“‘Legal bullying’: global protest rights on line in Dutch court case, say activists”, 4 July 2025

The outcome of a court case in the Netherlands could shape the right to protest around the globe for decades to come, campaigners have warned, as figures show a dramatic rise in legal action taken by fossil fuel companies against activists and journalists.

Greenpeace International is using a recently introduced EU directive to try to reclaim costs and damages it incurred when a US jury decided it should pay the oil pipeline corporation Energy Transfer more than $660m in damages earlier this year.

The case, which opened on Wednesday in Amsterdam, is the latest round in an increasingly bitter dispute between activists, journalists and free speech groups and big corporations – which campaigners claim are using more and more aggressive legal tactics to try to silence them…

Experts say these so-called Slapp [strategic lawsuits against public participation] cases are on the rise across the board…

The hearing in Amsterdam is the start of what experts expect to be a long legal process.

Greenpeace is asking for all costs and damages from the case in North Dakota – which is ongoing – to be paid by Energy Transfer Partners, a Dallas-based oil and gas company worth almost $70bn. It had sued Greenpeace alleging defamation and orchestrating criminal behaviour by protesters at the Dakota Access pipeline in 2016 and 2017, claiming the organisation “incited” people to protest by using a “misinformation campaign”.

Energy Transfer did not respond to a request for comment…