Protesters in Venice are claiming an “enormous victory” after US tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wedding guests were forced to “run away” from the city centre, moving their main celebration to another location.
The venues for the three-day party to mark the wedding of one of the world’s richest men to TV presenter Lauren Sanchez were never officially revealed.
But the lavish celebrations were supposed to culminate in an event on Saturday at the sumptuous Scuola Grande della Misericordia.
A local official in Venice has now confirmed to the BBC that the guests will gather instead at the Arsenale, further from the centre.
Activists are triumphant, even as a city councillor denounced their protests as “ridiculous”.
“We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing!” Tommaso Cacciari, from a group calling itself No Space for Bezos, told the BBC.
“We’re just citizens who started organising and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world – all the billionaires – out of the city.”
The wedding kicks off later this week, and has a star-studded guest list of the rich and famous that is rumoured to include Kim Kardashian, Mick Jagger and Leonardo diCaprio, as well as several of the Trumps.
Private jets are expected to jam up Venice airport, with private yachts taking over the harbour; five hotels have been booked out in their entirely and there are reports of former US Marines being hired to provide security.
The A-list mega-event has attracted protest from a variety of groups, from locals fighting over-tourism in Venice to climate change activists and those who oppose Bezos’ support for Donald Trump.
As well as “No Space for Bezos” posters plastered across the city in recent days, there have been protest banners strung from bridges over the canals.
On Monday, activists from a group calling itself Everyone Hates Elon unfurled a giant image of Bezos in Piazza San Marco, protesting against the super-rich with the slogan: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding then you can pay more tax.”
“Our protest isn’t about the wedding itself – it’s about what it represents,” Greenpeace campaigner Simona Abbate, who was there, told the BBC.
“This isn’t just a celebration of two people getting married, it’s a display of a lifestyle that’s simply unsustainable. The richest live in excess, while others endure the consequences of a climate emergency they didn’t create.”
The activists have been heavily criticised by city officials, who argue that such high-rolling visitors are an important source of income.
“These protesters behave as if they own Venice but they don’t,” Simone Venturini, a city councillor for economic development told the BBC. “No one gets to decide who gets married here.”
He said the groups were “a tiny minority” and not representative of the city.
“This event involves just 200 carefully selected guests and will bring major economic benefits to the city,” the local politician said, adding that all events were being hosted in privately-owned venues.
But the issue of over-tourism is a serious one in Venice, as it is across southern Europe, where protesters say locals are being priced out of a beautiful city by too many visitors. Climate change is also putting this city-on-the-water at major risk of flooding.
Local authorities introduced a five-euro daily tourist tax to enter the city but activists say it hasn’t stopped a single person from coming.
With the first wedding guests expected to arrive on Thursday, some activists had been planning to launch themselves into canals near the key venues, along with inflatable alligators. They wanted to try to block the path of the rich and famous, stop their fun – and make their point.
That wet protest has been called-off, but No Space for Bezos still plans to project its feelings onto a city building later this week and on Saturday evening they’re calling on people to join a march in a final show of protest.
“Bezos comes to Venice only for the party, that’s the problem: this vision of Venice not as a city anymore but like a big theme park where you can hire pieces or all of it and just do your private thing,” Tommaso Cacciari said.
“He’s sending the message that all the city is a background for a party of billionaires.”
By BBC News
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