Hundreds rallied in several French towns on Saturday in protests against Amazon called by anti-capitalist and environmental groups, including at one site where the US e-commerce giant plans a massive warehouse.
Amazon plans to set up a 38,000 square meter facility in the small southern town of Fournes near the Pont du Gard, a Roman aqueduct bridge that is a World Heritage site.
While police said around 800 protesters took part in the protest there, organizers said 1,400 turned up. The protesters planted shrubs in front of huge banners reading “Stop Amazon” and “Not here or anywhere.”
They formed a human chain to show the size of the project, floating multi-colored balloons 18 meters up to indicate the height of the planned five-story facility.
“It’s two years that the citizens of Fournes and its surroundings have fought against the installation of a giant Amazon warehouse,” said Raphael Pradeau, spokesman for French citizens’ activist group Attac. “At the start they were a bit alone against everyone, but they have succeeded in slowing the project thanks to legal recourse,” he added.
“We want to show that these are not small isolated fights and that we can mobilize hundreds of people who are ready to return to stop the work,” said Pradeau.
Sarah Latour, 38, came with her two sons aged 8 and 6, and the family planted a shrub in waste ground, where vines had once grown.
“These plants, these shrubs that we are planting today are a symbol of life that contrasts with the concreting that Amazon practices,” she said.
“I came with my children because I don’t want this destructive model for them.”
Amazon northerners where employees are in training for a few weeks to open on September 16 the fourth Amazon fulfillment center in France, Lauwin-Planque with 90,000 square meter of warehouse logistics center Photo: VCG
