Extinction Rebellion target Amazon UK hubs with blockades on Black Friday

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An activist from the Extinction Rebellion (XR) climate change group sits on a giant wooden rocket as they block the exit to an Amazon distribution centre in Tilbury, east of London.
BEN STANSALL | AFP | Getty Images

Protestors from the Extinction Rebellion movement blockaded Amazon distribution centers across the U.K. on Friday as part of an effort to stop the e-commerce giant from shipping Black Friday orders.

Scores of activists from Extinction Rebellion locked themselves to one another and assembled structures outside Amazon’s distribution sites, causing disruption on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

It’s unclear how many Amazon deliveries will now be delayed as a result of the protests.

The climate change campaign group said it wanted to draw attention to Amazon’s treatment of its workforce and wasteful business practices.

Activists blockaded 13 distribution centers across the U.K., including the company’s largest U.K. warehouse in Dunfermline, Scotland.

Activists from Extinction Rebellion blocked the entrance to the Amazon fulfilment centre in Doncaster, preventing lorries from entering or leaving on Black Friday, the global retail giant’s busiest day of the year.
Danny Lawson – PA Images | PA Images | Getty Images

“If everyone understood the mass death, destruction and chaos coming down the tracks, millions would be on the streets demanding action, and getting it,” Extinction Rebellion wrote on Twitter.

The group added: “Direct action is also a way of ordinary people doing what governments should be doing — stopping, or at least pausing, the harm caused by people like @JeffBezos.”

Other sites that were targeted by Extinction Rebellion include Doncaster, Darlington, Newcastle upon Tyne, Manchester, Peterborough, Derby, Coventry, Rugeley, Dartford, Bristol, Tilbury and Milton Keynes.

Protests also took place outside Amazon warehouses in the Netherlands and Germany.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.