An aerial view of Moerdijk village some 20kms south of Rotterdam on June 22, 2026 . [AFP]
Residents of Moerdijk, a small Dutch port village that survived WWII bombing and subsequent flooding, are facing a new existential challenge: the threat of being bulldozed in the name of clean energy.
Much of the 1,150-strong population has been left asking "why us? why their village?" Pim Meijer, who represents a collective covering around half the residents, told AFP.
The hamlet, dating from the Middle Ages and located in the south of the Netherlands, between the major ports of Rotterdam and Belgium's Antwerp, has been earmarked by the government for possible eradication.
The reason? To make way for a facility that would receive electricity from offshore wind farms to power the country’s ports -- among Europe's busiest -- in a more sustainable way.
Residents, who have taken to hanging up protest banners on their homes declaring "Moerdijk must stay", are feeling "anger, incredulity -- and mistrust towards the government," Meijer said.
"There are people who were born and who have grown up here -- some today are in their 90s," he said. Some families "have lived in Moerdijk for three or four generations... You can't just leave all that behind you."