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Climate activists blockade Amazon warehouses in UK on year's busiest shopping day

Ask for better working conditions, climate protection
Amazon warehouse protests UK
Posted at 8:37 AM, Nov 26, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-26 08:37:35-05

Climate activists are blockading Amazon warehouses across the U.K. on Friday in an attempt to pressure the company on one of its busiest days of the year.

Members of the group Extinction Rebellion want the ecommerce giant to improve working conditions and end business practices that hurt the environment.

"Amazon claims to care about its customers. But the reality is it's trapping them in a web of toxic consumerism, exploiting the planet and the people who work for them," the group said in a press release on its website. "If we don't address the obsession with unlimited growth, we will not address the ecological crisis."

The group targeted 13 Amazon fulfillment centers in the United Kingdom. According to the BBC, those centers included the company's largest distribution facility in Dunfermline, Scotland.

Extinction Rebellion's aim is to disrupt 50% of the company's deliveries on Black Friday, which marks the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season.

Activists blocked the entrance to Amazon's warehouse in Tilbury, east of London, with an effigy of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos sitting on top of a rocket. Other signs accused the company of "crimes" and stated that "Black Friday exploits people & planet."