Hundreds of climate activists breached a runway at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Saturday to try to block private jets from taking off, in the latest demonstration by protesters to draw attention to the climate crisis.   

  Greenpeace Netherlands said “more than 500” Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion activists were at the airport, one of Europe’s largest, on Saturday afternoon, in a press release.  A spokesman for the Schiphol security forces could not confirm this figure.   

  There were about “more than 300” activists, a spokesman for The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the military force that guards the airport, told CNN.   

  Robert Kapel, acknowledged it was a “large-scale” demonstration, but said air traffic was not affected as the runway was used exclusively for private jets and no flights were scheduled until late Saturday night.   

  “This morning activists gathered in the nearby forest, holding flags and banners with slogans such as ‘Climate SOS’ and ‘Don’t fly again.’  At the same time, another group arrived at the airport from the opposite direction on bicycles,” Greenpeace said.   

  Pictures from Greenpeace show groups of dozens of protesters sitting on the tarmac with several planes on the runway.  Further images show demonstrations inside the terminal.   

  More than 100 arrests have been made so far “and counting,” Capel said.  He added that he believed all arrests would be made by 10:00 p.m. (local time), when he said the first flight was scheduled to take off.  Security forces have cordoned off the area and made it inaccessible from other parts of the airport, he commented.   

  The protesters “intend to keep air traffic from the private jet terminal closed for as long as possible,” Dewi Zloch, a spokesperson for Greenpeace Netherlands, said in a statement.   

  He continued: “The airport should reduce its flight movements, but instead it is building a brand new terminal.  The wealthy elite are using more private jets than ever before, which is the most polluting way to fly.  This is typical of the airline industry, which does not seem to see that it is putting people at risk by exacerbating the climate crisis.  This has to stop.  We want fewer flights, more trains and a ban on unnecessary short-haul flights and private jets.”   

  Greenpeace warned authorities that there would be some sort of action at Schiphol weeks in advance, Zloch, who was at the scene, told CNN.  They did not disclose the exact location, he added.   

  Schiphol Airport CEO Ruud Sondag said activists should “feel welcome, but let’s keep things civil”.   

  It was responding to an earlier letter from Greenpeace and stated that its aim was to achieve “emission-free airports by 2030 and clean climate-neutral aviation by 2050”.   

  “However, this is only possible if we work together,” Sondag said in a statement released Friday.   

  “Getting together for our environment, government and society, clear laws, regulations and proper permits are a necessity.  We need clarity on this soon,” he added.   

  Elsewhere in Europe, two climate activists were arrested in Madrid, Spain, after taping one hand to the frame of two Goya paintings at the Prado Museum on Saturday.   

  There was no apparent damage to the paintings, but the suspects are charged with public disorder and damage, Spain’s National Police press office for Madrid told CNN.   

  The suspects, two Spanish women, wrote “+1.5 C” on the wall between the artworks, which were Goya’s masterpiece “Las Majas”, according to police.   

  Futuro Vegetal, a Spanish activist group, posted a video on Twitter of the protest at the museum.  The team takes responsibility for the incident.   

  They described themselves as “a collective of civil disobedience and direct action to combat the Climate Crisis through the adoption of a plant-based food growing system.”   

  “Last week the United Nations recognized the impossibility of staying below the Paris Agreement’s 1.5 degree (C) temperature increase over pre-industrial levels,” Futuro Vegetal tweeted.   

  Security guards at the Prado quickly alerted the National Police, which has a unit dedicated to protecting the famed museum’s perimeter, and officers made the arrests within minutes, the police press office said.   

  The Paris Agreement, which was adopted by 196 parties at the United Nations COP 21 in December 2015, aimed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.   

  The protest comes just a day before the start of the COP27 climate conference in Egypt.