Sarah Rainesford
BBC Rome correspondent
Davide Ghiglione
Rome BBC News
Reuters
Venice protesters claim “a huge victory” after our tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wedding guests are forced to “run away” from the city centre and moved the main celebration elsewhere.
The venue for the three-day party marking the wedding of one of the world’s wealthiest men with television presenter Lauren Sanchez was never officially revealed.
However, the gorgeous celebration was to peak at the event on Saturday at the gorgeous Scuola Grande Della Misericordia.
Local officials in Venice have now confirmed with the BBC that guests will be gathering in Arsenel instead and more from the centre.
Reuters
Activists are winning even if city councillors accused their protest of being “silly”;
“We’re very proud of this! We’re no body. We have no money or anything!” Tommaso Cacciari told the BBC from a group that calls Bezos’ spaceless.
“We were citizens who started organizing and were able to move all the billionaires out of the city, one of the most powerful people in the world.”
The wedding begins later this week with a guest list studded with rich and famous stars rumored to include Kim Kardashian, Mick Jagger, Leonardo DiCaprio and several Trumps.
Private jets pack the Venice airport, with private yachts taking over the port. There are reports that five hotels are fully booked and former US Marines are employed to provide security.
The A-list Mega-Event attracted protests from a wide range of groups, from locals fighting overtourism in Venice to those opposed to climate activists and Bezos’ support for Donald Trump.
In addition to the recent “No Space for Bezos” posters that have been smashed around town, there was also a protest banner set up from a bridge over the canal.
On Monday, activists from the group calling themselves have shown Elon to deploy a huge image of Bezos in Piazza San Marco, protesting against the super-rich people with slogans.
Reuters
“Our protests aren’t about the wedding itself — it’s about what it represents,” Greenpeace campaigner Simonea Abbart, who was there, told the BBC.
“This is not a celebration of two people getting married, but simply an unsustainable lifestyle display, with the richest living beings living in excess, while others endure the consequences of a climate emergency they didn’t produce.”
Activists have been deeply criticized by city officials who claim that such high-rolling visitors are important sources of income.
“These protesters behave as if they own Venice, but they are not,” Economic Development City Councilman Simone Venturini told the BBC. “You can’t decide who’ll get married here.”
He said the group is “minority” and is not representative of the city.
“The event includes just 200 carefully selected guests, which will bring great economic benefits to the city,” said a local politician, adding that all events are hosted in privately owned venues.
AFP via Getty Images
However, the problem of overtourism is a serious problem in Venice, and is throughout southern Europe, so protesters say that locals are priced from beautiful cities by too many visitors. Climate change also places a major risk of flooding in the water’s cities.
Local governments have introduced five Euro daily tourism taxes to enter the city, but activists say they have not stopped one person from coming.
With guests from their first wedding being expected to arrive Thursday, some activists had planned to throw themselves into the canal near the main venue, along with the inflatable crocodile. They wanted to block the paths of rich and famous people, stop their fun and make their claims.
That wet protest has been cancelled, but space for Bezos is not scheduled to project emotions into city buildings later this week. On Saturday evening, they are urging people to take part in the march at the final show of protest.
“Bezos comes to Venice just for the party. That’s the problem. It’s a vision of Venice like a big theme park where you can hire your work and everything and do private things,” Tomaso Katiari said.
“He sends the message that every city is the background to a billionaire party.”
