Activists staged protests against online retailer Amazon around France on Friday and tried to blockade a shopping mall in Paris, denouncing as rampant consumerism the U.S. Black Friday shopping frenzy that has spread to European shores. French companies have embraced the discount shopping day held the day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday since it was brought to Europe by Amazon and others. Several dozen demonstrators gathered at dawn outside an Amazon headquarters building in the Clichy district of Paris for a sit-down protest outside the front gates.