Watch: Greta Thunberg detained twice at climate demonstration in Netherlands

Extinction Rebellion said before the protest that activists would block a main road into The Hague, but a heavy police presence, including officers on horseback, initially prevented them from getting onto the road.

The small group then managed to sit down on another road and its members were detained after ignoring police orders to leave.

Extinction Rebellion activists have blocked the A12, which runs past the temporary home of the Dutch parliament, more than 30 times to protest against the subsidies.

The demonstrators waved flags and chanted: “We are unstoppable, another world is possible”.

“The A12 blockades have ensured that the injustice of fossil subsidies is clear to everyone,” Joost Thus, a spokesman for Extinction Rebellion, said ahead of the protest. “The success of the A12 blockades has set in motion an international movement.”

At previous protests, police drove detained protesters to another part of town, where they were released. Local police were not immediately available for comment on Saturday.

Ms Thunberg became the face of young climate activists worldwide after staging weekly protests in front of the Swedish parliament in 2018.

She has been detained multiple times, including in Germany, Norway, Sweden and the UK.