A large group of protesters who claimed Black Friday is bad for the environment shut down an Amazon warehouse this morning.
Dozens of activists from Amis de la terre (Friends of the Earth) and ANV-COP 21 (non-violent action - Climate Change Conference 21) blocked the entrance to the south Paris facility and reportedly threw old microwaves and fridges on the ground.
Protesters held banners stamped with the words "Amazon: For the climate, for employment, stop expansion, stop overproduction".
Police were called and eventually removed the demonstrators from outside the warehouse in Bretigny-sur-Orge, but more protests are planned for Black Friday and activists were spotted at Amazon headquarters in Clichy, north of Paris.
In a Facebook post, French media company Le Vent Se Leve said green groups are taking part in a climate movement on Black Friday and added: "[They are] trying to complete the total blocking of a strategic delivery point of the giant online distribution giant.
"It is about sending a strong message against the anti-environmental consumerism, but also against the behaviour of those actors who do not pay their taxes and exploit their workers. At the same time, the assembly is working on the circular economy law, which may suffer from a lack of political ambition."
Growing opposition against Black Friday is mounting in the country and some lawmakers are calling for it to be banned altogether.
The mass sale has morphed into a worldwide phenomenon despite the concept stemming from a specific US holiday, Thanksgiving.
A legislative committee in France has already passed an amendment that proposes prohibiting Black Friday as they say it causes “resource waste” and “overconsumption”.
The motion put forward by France’s former environment minister Delphine Batho will be debated in the National Assembly next month. France’s e-commerce union has condemned it.
Separately, ecological transition minister Elisabeth Borne has criticised the commercial event for creating “traffic jams, pollution, and gas emissions”.
She added that she would support Black Friday if it helped small French businesses, but said it mostly benefits large online retailers.
