Police have ended a demonstration by environmental campaign group Extinction Rebellion which closed down the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on Saturday morning.
Protestors chained themselves across the gates at the pedestrian and cycle entrances to the museum underpass, where the main way into the museum is located.
Some 60 demonstrators were present, all of whom were dressed in yellow, local broadcaster At5 said. They are demanding the museum sever its ties with the ING financial services group, a main sponsor.
Some 33 of the demonstrators were arrested.
ER has taken action against ING several times, including blockades of the Amsterdam ring road next to its former headquarters. The group says that ING is jointly responsible for the major floods around the world this summer, because of its continued financing of the fossil fuel industry.
โBy taking money from ING, the museum is giving this major polluter the ability to hide its dirty face behind famous works of art,โ said spokeswoman Josefien van Marlen. โThis has to stop.โ
The campaign group estimates INGโs sponsorship to be some โฌ700,000 a year, or less than 0.6% of the museumโs income.
The Rijksmuseum, home to works of art such as Rembrandtโs Night Watch, is the best visited museum in the country, attracting thousands of visitors a day.
Several years ago the Van Gogh museum was targetted by anti-fossil fuel campaigners because of its sponsorship relationship with Shell.
In March, the Museon-Omniversum museum in The Hague and the Discovery Museum in Kerkrade said they had begun a search for investors to become โsocial shareholdersโ as an alternative to traditional corporate sponsorship.
The museums hope to attract partners that want to boost the โsocialโ aspect of their environmental, social and governance targets, which have become key indicators of corporate performance.
Markus Jansen 
Fanny Mulder