Broadmead was split in two on Saturday as 150 Bristol activists
blockaded the entrance to US clothes chain store GAP in protest at
their use of child labour and sweatshop labour. The demonstration, one
of the largest in recent years, was sparked by revelations by a recent
BBC Panorama programme that child labour was being used in a Cambodian
factory making GAP clothes. The sea of faces dividing the walkway held
placards reading "GAP - Globally Abusing People" and "GAP rips off
child labour and sweat shop labour". The protest quickly gained
momentum as local shop workers on lunch breaks and teenagers grabbed
pickets and joined in. Within the crowd, lines could be seen forming
as passers-by queued up to sign petitions calling for an end to GAP's
global profiteering. One woman, feeling guilty after having just
bought a GAP bodywarmer was reminded by one of the protesters holding
a clipboard that she hadn't benefited at all from the exploitation
having had to pay an extortionate £55. The mark-up on some GAP clothes
is 400%.

Panorama focused on GAP's determined anti-union policy which raises
the question of why Bristol employees are as much without rights as
their Cambodian or Honduras counterparts who earn just 22 pence per
hour. The mainly young local protesters were highly conversant in the
global issues involved. Alison from Soundwell College said that "GAP's
owners, the Fischer Family, are worth 5 Billion US$. They donate huge
amounts of money to US political candidates to buy corporate influence
over the American government". A multitude of teenagers gathered round
in threes and fours happy to be identified with the sit-down. It seems
that "Anti-capitalism" has arrived in Bristol after having travelled
from Seattle and Prague. The practices of popular brand names such as
Nike, Starbucks and Macdonalds are as likely as GAP to come under
scrutiny and be targeted by Bristolian youth who are finding their
place in a world which seems smaller by the day.