Jeff Bezos’ wedding sparks protests in Venice

The wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former TV presenter Lauren Sanchez in Venice is causing quite a stir. The billionaire has privatized part of the city from June 26 to 28 for the ceremony. For his two hundred guests, almost all the city’s water cabs were requisitioned and canals were closed. At least seven yachts dropped anchor and 95 private jets requested permission to land, reports Il Corriere della Sera.

Guests spotted on the city’s canals by AFP photographers included the daughter of US President Ivanka Trump, Queen Rania of Jordan, Leonardo diCaprio, Khloé and Kim Kardashian, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, American football superstar Tom Brady and presenter Oprah Winfrey.

A residents’ collective called “No Space for Bezos”, in reference to Blue Origin, Bezos’s space technology company, is multiplying its displays of banners against the oligarch at iconic Venetian sites. Blue Origin, Bezos’s space technology company, is putting up banners against the oligarch at iconic Venetian sites.

“Tommaso Cacciari, spokesman for the collective, told AFP: “Venice is also a place where people live with poorly paid, insecure jobs, often in tourism. He denounced the “ostentatious” presence of yachts “opposite the working-class districts” of Venice.

“No Space for Bezos” joined forces with Greenpeace and the British group “Everyone Hates Elon” to display a giant banner in Piazza San Marco. The banner read: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax”.

“The richest 1% are ruining the world”, proclaimed a banner unfurled in Piazza San Marco. “We are the 99%”, chanted demonstrators.

Other activists launched a float onto the Grand Canal, depicting a mannequin of Jeff Bezos hanging from an Amazon box, his hands full of fake dollars.

Bezos had to change the location of his ball after a group of protesters threatened to block the canals surrounding the venue with… inflatable crocodiles!

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez reportedly asked their guests not to give them wedding gifts. Instead, they asked them to make donations to UNESCO “to preserve the irreplaceable cultural heritage” of Venice, according to a statement from the couple quoted by the media.

Some media, such as Il Foglio, present the ceremony as a godsend: “Bezos’ presence in Italy and Venice should be treated as manna from heaven, not as a storm to be avoided,” writes the center-right daily. “The proof is that Bezos has only rented a public space, the Arsenale, and will give work to a hundred people by spending 200,000 euros.”

Jeff Bezos, who owns around $215 billion worth of Amazon shares, will also donate three million euros to an association for the protection of the lagoon, Venice International University and Unesco, according to Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region.