Environmental campaigners have sent a mock 3.6 metre tall “Stop Amazon” delivery box to the French government, demanding that it reins in the company’s expansion plans.
The activists arrived on Wednesday in a rented van – much like millions of Amazon’s daily deliveries – at the French finance ministry where they built their protest box in the street.
They unloaded wooden panels and built them up into a box decorated with the Amazon logo and the slogan: "#StopAmazon".
Activists then spray-painted: "Amazon: the state must say stop" on the pavement in front of the finance ministry, where they said Amazon’s culture of consumption hurts the environment and squeezes out small businesses.
"We put this parcel in front of the ministry to challenge the government about the dangers of the expansion of e-commerce in France," said Alma Dufour, a campaigner with the French chapter of green group Friends of the Earth.
Amazon said in a statement that it believed e-commerce was less harmful to the environment than traditional retail and that it was committed to reaching the threshold of net zero carbon for all its businesses by 2040.
It said it had created more than 30,000 direct and indirect jobs in France in the past 20 years including at small businesses, which trade on the Amazon platform.
In April Amazon closed six warehouses for five weeks after a French court ruled it could sell only essential items during the lockdown. The court case began as a union case alleging workers could not social distance.
Last year, several hundred environmental activists protested outside Amazon’s headquarters in Paris and at two of its regional distribution centres in France as part of stepped-up climate change demonstrations.
The protest drew support from groups including Friends of the Earth and the Gilets Jaunes, who demonstrated for months against polices of President Emmanuel Macron.
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
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Tailors and retailers miss out on back-to-school rush
Tailors and retailers across the city said it was an ominous start to what is usually a busy season for sales.
With many parents opting to continue home learning for their children, the usual rush to buy school uniforms was muted this year.
“So far we have taken about 70 to 80 orders for items like shirts and trousers,” said Vikram Attrai, manager at Stallion Bespoke Tailors in Dubai.
“Last year in the same period we had about 200 orders and lots of demand.
“We custom fit uniform pieces and use materials such as cotton, wool and cashmere.
“Depending on size, a white shirt with logo is priced at about Dh100 to Dh150 and shorts, trousers, skirts and dresses cost between Dh150 to Dh250 a piece.”
A spokesman for Threads, a uniform shop based in Times Square Centre Dubai, said customer footfall had slowed down dramatically over the past few months.
“Now parents have the option to keep children doing online learning they don’t need uniforms so it has quietened down.”
