Massive Protests Against Data Centres: 37 Arrested in the US

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia — Resistance to data centre expansion in the United States is intensifying. No longer merely a war of words, public anger has now boiled over, triggering the arrest of civilians by law enforcement.

According to a report by Futurism, at least 37 civilians opposing data centre construction have been arrested in 2026 alone. In addition, there have recently been 12 incidents in which police were forced to block crowds from surging towards local officials.

The phenomenon is remarkably unusual. Unlike typical political demonstrations, the ranks of data centre opponents span a wide range of demographics — from landowning farmers and physics teachers to Gen Z groups, baby boomers, and parents in suburban areas.

The common thread uniting them is weariness with public officials who are seen as prioritising the interests of Big Tech over the voices of their own constituents.

One victim of this bureaucratic heavy-handedness is Pablo Payan (42), a maintenance manager in Indiana. While attending a residents’ forum concerning plans for an Amazon data centre in the City of Hobart, Payan was arrested by police simply for refusing to state his full name before speaking.

“I was thrown out and arrested just so they could show off their power. They want to show that the law is on their side, and that if residents dare to speak up, they will be intimidated or jailed,” Payan told Fox32, quoted by Futurism on Wednesday (6/8/2026).

Not ‘Extremists’ — Just Handclaps Ending in Handcuffs

The administration of Donald Trump and law enforcement officials had labelled the movement as “anti-technology extremism”. The reality on the ground, however, is quite the opposite.

Most demonstrations have been entirely peaceful. Arrests of residents are frequently justified by extremely trivial administrative pretexts.

The most absurd case befell Lux Claridge, a physics teacher in Emporia, Kansas. Claridge was suddenly dragged away by police in the middle of a public meeting simply for clapping in support of another resident who was speaking out against a 1,000-hectare data centre project.

Claridge’s clapping was deemed to violate a petty local rule barring meeting participants from ‘snapping their fingers’ and ‘clapping’.

“Clapping is my First Amendment right as a citizen. I wasn’t causing a disturbance. But if they want to throw me out over this, go ahead and drag me out!” Claridge fumed in an interview with 404 Media.

This phenomenon signals danger for the global AI industry. The ambition of technology giants to build digital infrastructure recklessly is now clashing hard with the limits of local communities’ patience.