De Beers Opens Store, Protesters Object

Last year's guilty plea for a decades long diamond price-fixing charge allowed De Beers, which controls a huge chunk of the world's diamonds, to open its first US store. De Beers LV, which recently opened on Fifth Avenue in New York, is a joint venture between the company and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy.

Members of Survival International showed up to protest Botswana's eviction of native tribes from their ancestral homes, because they feel the evictions are directly related to a deal the government has signed with De Beers to pursue diamond exploration in the area.

It isn't the company's first brush with social issues. Its policies were said to be in sync with the development of Africa's apartheid state. The company has been accused of dealing in conflict diamonds--diamonds that are sold to fund the unlawful and illegal operations of rebel, military and terrorist groups. De Beers says it is in compliance with the Kimberley Process, a system developed by a large group of countries which are attempting to keep conflict diamonds from being sold within their borders.

Not everyone onhand objected to the new store. Reuters reported that actress Lindsey Lohan responded with "I don't get involved in any drama," when asked how she felt about the controversy.