Shopaholic aliens will invade York city centre in a bid to persuade Earthmen that shopping is not necessarily a good thing.

Protesters dressed as aliens will start their earthly campaign at the BAA McArthurGlen Designer Outlet tomorrow morning before walking to Kings Square complete with large armfuls of purchases.

When they are not pushing their anti-consumer message, the group known as Green Action are based at the University of York.

"We don't really want to detract from Christmas, more getting you to think about what you consume, not stop shopping altogether," said group member Sonja Jtte.

She added that the group wanted to give an example of how ridiculous consumerism was pushed to the limit.

The alien invasion is expected to be small-scale with only a handful of extra-terrestrials taking on the earthly shoppers.

Their action is the second by the group and others at the Designer Outlet on the outskirts of York.

At its opening one female protester streaked before shoppers and dignitaries. The protesters are objecting to what they see as the outlet's encouragement to people to buy, buy, buy and to the fact that it was built on the site of a centuries-old wood.

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