Popular cosmetic retailer shuts Australian stores in Gaza 'solidarity' protest
- Australian Lush stores closed for the day
- The action were in solidarity with people in Gaza
- READ MORE: Cosmetics chain Lush closes ALL stores and shuts down website
Australian branches of cosmetics retailer Lush closed on Thursday to protest the treatment of people in Gaza as the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal progresses.
Lush closed its shops, website and a factory in Sydney for one day to bring local attention to the conflict.
Windows in branches across the country displayed the message: 'Stop starving Gaza – We are closed in solidarity.'
'Providing our customers with the very best service is ingrained into everything we do at Lush, so shutting our shops is not an easy decision,' a statement from Lush said.
'We ask for forgiveness from any customers we inconvenience should they come to us on 23rd October and find us closed.
'However, we know that many of our customers share the same anxiety about the current situation in Gaza.'
Staff will still be paid during the closures. The retailer said it may be losing a day's takings, but a day's lost trading also reduces the tax paid to the Australian government.
'We hope they too hear the message our closure sends, with more government action needed to bring an immediate stop to the death and destruction,' it said.
Lush's Australian branches were all closed on Thursday in solidarity with people in Gaza
A message on the website said staff would be paid even if stores and its Sydney factory were closed. But it said the federal government would lose a day of tax contributions
But some protest messages, which Lush branches had hung in the windows, were covered
But not everyone was happy about the protest, with photos appearing on Reddit of the signs in the Lush windows were externally covered up in Westfield Chermside, north of Brisbane.
'Westfield Chermside going the extra mile to cover up a genocide,' a caption on the Reddit post said.
'Lush had these signs up and centre management is covering them, threatening to throw people out of the centre if they take photos.'
The Daily Mail has contacted Westfield's operating company Scentre Group regarding the alleged covering of the messages.
Lush, which sells soaps and cosmetics, has made a similar protest in the United Kingdom in September as a pro-Palestine statement of solidarity.
Israel's two-year military offensive in Gaza has seen more than 67,000 people including about 20,000 children killed, according to the United Nations.
The action came after militant group Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel which reportedly killed 1200 people, with more than 250 taken hostage.
The shop has also fundraised for children in Gaza through selling its 'watermelon' soap
A Reddit user shared an image of Westfield Chermside staff allegedly covering the windows
A similar protest action was carried out by Lush's stores in the UK in September
A tentative ceasefire deal is currently in place between Israel and Hamas but Lush's protest in Australia appears to follow a ruling by the United Nations' legal body on people in Gaza's access to aid.
The International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion on Wednesday on the issue that Israel was obligated to ensure the 'basic needs' of civilians in the region.
This includes food, water, shelter, fuel and medical services.
In a post on X, Israel's foreign ministry rejected the findings and added: 'Israel fully upholds its obligations under international law'.
