The lavish wedding party of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and TV presenter Lauren Sanchez concluded on Saturday, June 28, evening in Venice with the main gala event.
But as their celebrity guests were preparing to step into water taxis from their luxury hotels, paparazzi poised, a crowd of some Venetians gathered to protest against the big event.
Their causes are varied, from locals opposed to over-tourism in a delicate city, to activists protesting against climate change and capitalism.
Hundreds marched through the city on Saturday, hanging a “no space for Bezos” banner from the Rialto bridge and setting off multicoloured flares. But plans to launch themselves into the city’s canals with inflatable crocodiles and block the wedding guests’ passage were dropped.
Spotted heading into Harry’s Bar for lunch on Saturday, Bezos blew kisses towards the cameras when a local journalist asked what he made of the protests.
The city’s deputy mayor dismissed the activists as “narcissists” and insisted the wedding was the “high-quality tourism” Venice needs.
Simone Venturini, city councillor for economic developments, said he hoped “a lot of people will want to get married in Venice” now and boost the city’s wedding sector.
“We are not Iran. The city cannot say who can or who cannot get married. We have no moral police going around,” he told the BBC on the bank of the Grand Canal, as gondolas loaded with tourists drifted by.
Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’s extravagant wedding celebrations ended on Saturday
The activists have already claimed one win, though.
Tonight’s party was moved further from the city centre for security reasons. The new venue, Arsenale, is easier to protect.
“I think the main problem is that Venice is becoming like an amusement park,” argues Paola, an Italian member of the Extinction Rebellion group.
She’s especially incensed that wedding guests arrived here on private jets and argues the world’s elite are the worst polluters.
