Now it’s Block Friday
As XR activists barricade string of Amazon sites, shoppers vote with their wallets in record £9billion sale bonanza
EXTINCTION Rebellion yesterday blockaded Amazon depots across the country in protest against Black Friday.
The busiest shopping day of the year saw massive disruption to deliveries and distribution at Amazon, which takes about 40 per cent of all Black Friday spending.
It has been estimated that record spending in the sales will top £9billion. Early figures from Barclaycard and Nationwide suggested the number of purchases was up by about 25 per cent on last year.
Millions of Christmas purchases are set to be held up in the courier system with protesters planning to stay put for 48 hours.
David Jinks, of delivery firm ParcelHero, warned: ‘The impact could be catastrophic as supply chains and deliveries are already stretched to breaking point because of driver shortages, port delays and Covid.
‘People’s Black Friday deliveries could be significantly delayed, and if stocking warehouses is also impacted, the problems will go beyond Black Friday and into Cyber Monday.’
Extinction Rebellion (XR) accused Amazon of fuelling climate change with its thousands of delivery trucks and vans, and disregarding workers’ rights. It says Black Friday fuels ‘wastefulness’. The group targeted 13 sites including Newcastle, Manchester, Bristol, Dartford, and Dunfermline in Fife.
Banner-carrying activists arrived in the early hours of Friday to set up bamboo tripods and ‘lock-ons’ – equipment to tie themselves to structures. Some wore masks of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. A frustrated Amazon driver confronted one group that blocked him from leaving a depot in Gateshead. The father told activists: ‘This isn’t affecting Amazon. They still have their money.’
In Dartford, about 20 activists blockaded a road just before 5am. Protester Rob Callender, 31, a yoga instructor from Uxbridge, said: ‘Black Friday is a dark day for the planet...
‘Amazon should pay for the terrible damage hyper-consumerism is doing to our planet, creating emissions, poisonous waste and burned-out workers who are denied the right to unionise in most places.’
But Dartford MP Gareth Johnson said: ‘People have a right to get to work without environmental extremists deciding that their views should trump basic freedoms.
‘This doesn’t just impact Amazon, but the thousands of small businesses that supply Amazon on the busiest trading day of the year.’ Footage on social media appeared to show at least four activists taken away by police in Manchester.
Amazon said it was working to minimise potential disruption. A spokesman said: ‘At Amazon, we take our responsibilities very seriously.
‘That includes our commitment to be net-zero carbon by 2040... providing excellent pay and benefits in a safe and modern work environment, and supporting the tens of thousands of British small businesses who sell on our store.’
Boots was criticised yesterday for offering a Black Friday deal on the morning after pill.
The store was labelled ‘tone deaf ’ after it halved the cost of the emergency contraception on its online store to £8.
‘Stretched to breaking point’