Pandemic highlights anger at Amazon in France

Amazon has said it would postpone its annual ‘Black Friday’ discounts in France, under pressure from the government.

French bookshops, which have been badly hit by a second national lockdown, feared losing key pre-Christmas sales if the promotion went ahead as planned on Friday.

France’s finance minister said online giants had been the “only winners” from this crisis, which has sharpened deep-rooted conflicts over Amazon’s role in the French economy.

The iconic English-language bookshop in Paris, Shakespeare and co, once a hub for writers such as James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Simone de Beauvoir, has launched a plea for help.