Activists blockade Amazon sites in UK to protest against Black Friday
Extinction Rebellion activists blockaded more than a dozen Amazon distribution centres in the UK to protest against the retailer’s Black Friday discounts.
The XR demonstrators blocked the company’s largest UK warehouse, in Dunfermline, Scotland, as well as sites across England that are collectively responsible for about half of the company’s deliveries in Britain.
The group said it had also taken action against Amazon’s distribution centres in the US, Germany and the Netherlands, on what is the busiest day of the year for the company.
“The action is intended to draw attention to Amazon’s exploitative and environmentally destructive business practices, disregard for workers’ rights in the name of company profits, as well as the wastefulness of Black Friday,” an XR representative said.
The group blocked the entrances to the UK sites using bamboo structures and socalled lock-on devices, and displayed banners with slogans such as “Amazon crime”, “Infinite growth, finite planet” and “Black Friday exploits people and planet”.
The activists said they had arrived at about 4am at the sites, which include premises in Newcastle, Manchester and Bristol, and aimed to stay for at least 48 hours.
Formed in the UK in 2018, XR regularly uses civil disobedience to highlight government inaction on climate change, but has sometimes drawn public backlash, although nothing like the opprobrium reserved for offshoot Insulate Britain.
Eleanor Harris, who is from
Glasgow, took part in the Dunfermline blockade.
“The era of exploitative throwaway capitalism will soon be over, either by changing to meet the challenges we now face or by the destruction of our global habitats and societies,” she said.
An Amazon representative said that the online retailer took its responsibilities, including a commitment to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2040, “very seriously”.
“We know there is always more to do, and we’ll continue to invent and invest on behalf of our employees, customers, small businesses and communities in the UK,” the representative said.