Venice activists plan to break Jeff Bezos’ wedding

Venice activists have launched a series of protests against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who should marry Lauren Sanchez fiancé next week in a lavish, multimillion -dollar ceremony that can close parts of the famous city.

Jeff Bezos, 61 -year -old, is the third richest person in the world, with an approximate net worth $ 220.9 billion. He is the founder of Amazon and Space Tech Company Blue Origin.

Hundreds of high -profile guests should descend to Venice between June 23 and 28 for the newlyweds, who will take over the entire island of San Giorgio, opposite St. Mark’s Square.

According to Italian media, almost every luxury hotel was booked by the wedding party, as well as many water taxis.

“Venice is treated as a showcase, a scene,” says Federica Toninelli, a 33-year-old Venetian activist related to the protest group No Space for Bezos.

“And this wedding is the symbol of the city’s operation by outsiders … Venice is just an advantage.”

No place for Bezos unites activists belonging to various Venetian teams-from those who campaigns for more homes for the declining population of Venice to the Cruise Committee.

“All these topics are related,” Toninelli told the BBC. “They all have to do with Venice into a place that puts tourists, not the residents, at the center of its policy.”

On Thursday, the collective unfolded banners against Bezos from the bell of the Basilica San Giorgio Magire and the Rialto Bridge. Next week they plan to break the festivities by jumping in the channels to prevent water taxis and block various KaliThe narrow streets of Venice to prevent wedding guests from reaching the place.

In the summoning of social media to join the protests, the activists accused the conservative mayor of Venice Luigi Brugnar of being referred to residents “as an inconvenience … because for him the only valid use of Venice is as a backdrop for events that make the rich.”

The organizers say the purpose of the protests – who insist that it will be completely peaceful – is double.

“We want to ignite a conversation throughout the city and say that people like Bezos are a future that we do not want, and a world we don’t want to live in – they are not welcome here,” said Toninelli, referring to Bezos’ business endeavors and his proximity to Trump’s administration.

But Mayor Bruggero said he was “ashamed” to the protesters: “What kind of another city will organize a committee against the wedding of such an important person?”

“I hope (Bezos) there is no second thoughts,” he said.

Resonment of the mayor’s outrage, the Setrak Tokatzian jeweler – which runs the St. Mark’s Association – told the Italian media that those who protest against “hurt the city”.

“This type of event brings work and wealth, otherwise all that is left is the lower tourism.”

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, author and former news presenter, have been together for several years and engaged in 2023.

Although details about the wedding have not been revealed, the Bezos space without a space for Bezos believes that the couple will bind the knot in the church of the abbey of the abbey of misery.

About 200 guests are expected, many of them remained in the most exclusive hotels of Venice, as well as on the yachts of Bezos, Coru and Abeon.

According to Vogue magazine, the guest list may include Kim Kardashian – who attended the Sanchez Ergen Party in Paris last month – and pop star Katie Perry, with whom Sanchez flies into space of a rocket of blue origin Earlier this year. Trump family members also happen to be present.

D -Ja Toninelli said that the protester against Bezos’ wedding would draw attention to the wider problems in front of her city and his fragile lagoon.

As local homes were replaced by holiday rentals, the Venetians left the city on wheels. According to the local activist group Ocio, in 2023 the number of tourists exceeded that of residents for the first time.

Its current population is just under 49,000 against 175,000 in 1950.

Last year The city introduced an entrance fee for daily trips on peak datesS Mayor Bruggero celebrates the scheme as a success, but opposition politicians say this has not helped to spread the flow of tourists who regularly flood the narrow streets of Venice.

However, Ja Toninelli insisted that she and other activists were not against the concept of tourism. “We also like to travel around the world. The problem here is not tourists – he uses tourism and bases everything on it.”

“We have to think about transition after tourism,” she said, emphasizing the need to move away from the concept of Venice as a stage for big, brilliant events.

“The city administration, which puts the residents – not the visitors – front and center, would be a good step forward.”

Jeff Bezos’ wedding is not the first large -scale holiday of this species to take place in Venice.

In 2014, actor George Clooney married the human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a brilliant affair, who saw that many celebrities were descending the channels of the Italian city. At that time, there was no significant turmoil against their event.