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.
‘Black Friday deliveries could be significantly delayed, and if stocking warehouses are 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 claims that Black Friday fuels ‘wastefulness’. The group targeted 13 sites including Dunfermline,
Newcastle, Manchester, Bristol, and Dartford. Some activists wore masks of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Around 20 banner-carrying protesters arrived at the Fife site at 4am and shut off the entrance using ‘lock-ons’ – equipment to tie themselves to structures. An estimated 50 trucks were prevented from entering and had to queue on nearby roads for several hours.
Amazon driver Adrian Corneu, 40, said: ‘I have been waiting for hours. It has messed up the schedule. It is a big problem for drivers.’ Another driver said: ‘They’re stopping us from getting paid. We don’t get paid until the load is off so we have to wait here. It’s really bad.’
XR’s spokesman at the blockade, Meg Paton-Jones, said: ‘The police have one van on site and they are watching us.
‘This Amazon site throws away so much waste and a worker even spoke to us this morning about how it upsets him. We are planning to stay here as long as we last.’
Another protester, Bridget Cooper, 72, said: ‘It’s not easy interrupting workers’ lives but disruption is necessary in this case. We are showing solidarity with those affected by climate change around the world.’
Police Scotland said officers had been ‘engaging’ with protesters.
At the Manchester protest, footage on social media appeared to show at least four activists taken away by police.
A spokesman for Amazon said: ‘We take our responsibilities very seriously. That includes our commitment to be net-zero 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’