Pro-Gaza activists staged a protest and appeared to take over an Amsterdam department store tannoy system.
Campaign group Workers for Palestine urged shoppers at De Bijenkorf to shun brands with alleged links to Israel.
The protest came as demonstrators disrupted Christmas shopping in Oxford Street in London calling for the boycott of what they claimed were “pro-Israel” brands.
In a video from Workers for Palestine on its Instagram account, a woman’s voice can be heard over a loudspeaker saying “we invite you to stop shopping while the bombs are dropping” and the deaths in Gaza were “funded by your tax money”.
More than 20,600 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7.
The announcement then claimed that buying products from brands such as “L’Oreal, Channel and Dior” helps what the organisers called Israel’s “genocide on the Palestinians” in Gaza.
Leaflets were distributed and strewn across the floor of the Amsterdam department store with shoppers told: “Christmas is cancelled, drop your shopping bags and boycott the brands.”
Workers for Palestine told The National the protest was held simultaneously across Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Paris.
Protests in the other Dutch cities and Brussels were similar to that in Amsterdam. In Berlin, activists disrupted a shopping centre by placing a nativity scene in the rubble to represent the current situation in Gaza.
The aim of the Christmas protests was “to shift the narrative, encouraging the global community to reflect on their role in perpetuating the ongoing genocide and to stand united against injustice”.
It's unclear if the message heard by shoppers was through the store's tannoy and Workers for Palestine would not say if they managed to take it over.
De Bijenkorf has been approached for comment.
The protest came the same day hundreds marched on London's Oxford Street, Regent Street and Carnaby Street, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Some used the same “while you're shopping, bombs are dropping” chant outside two Zara stores, both of which had closed and were guarded by security.
Some chanted: “Zara, Zara, you can't hide, stop supporting genocide”.
Earlier this month, Zara pulled an ad following complaints that it contained pictures resembling images from the Israel-Gaza war.
The campaign, called The Jacket, contained a series of images in which the model was pictured against a background of cracked stones, damaged statues and broken plasterboard.
Zara said the campaign presented “a series of images of unfinished sculptures in a sculptor's studio and was created with the sole purpose of showcasing craft-made garments in an artistic context”.
However, some viewers suggested they were similar to images emerging from Gaza.
The company said it regretted a “misunderstanding” about the campaign images after some customers “saw in them something far from what was intended when they were created”.
Protesters also chanted “shut it down” outside a Puma store on Carnaby Street.
The sports company was included on a list of brands to boycott on leaflets handed out to shoppers. Calls to boycott Puma stem from the firm's sponsorship of Israel's national football team.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
