Billionaire Jeff Bezos moves Venice wedding party after activists vow to block canals with crocodiles.
Campaigners pressure Bezos to change lavish wedding
plans as protesters vow to block canals with inflatable crocodiles.
Venice, Italy — Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez have
changed the venue for their Venice wedding party after activists threatened to
disrupt the event by filling canals with inflatable crocodiles.
Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, was
forced to switch venues for his Venetian wedding celebrations this week after a
campaign group threatened dramatic protests. The couple's lavish party was
originally booked at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a historic
16th-century building in Venice’s city center.
The group, named No Space for Bezos, called on
Venice to stop allowing the world’s wealthiest to “rent the city.” Activists
vowed to fill the surrounding canals with inflatable crocodiles to stop
celebrity guests from arriving by boat.
As the protest gained traction, Bezos and Sánchez
moved their reception to the Arsenale, a secured complex of fortified shipyards
that is much harder for protesters to access.
Local security forces were already on high alert as
wedding guests began to arrive, including high-profile figures like Ivanka
Trump, Elon Musk, Kim Kardashian, and Leonardo DiCaprio. An estimated 95
private jets flew into Venice ahead of the festivities.
No official dates were given, but reports say the
couple will exchange vows at San Giorgio Maggiore basilica on Friday before the
main party on Saturday.
The protests were part of a broader movement criticizing
billionaires’ excesses and highlighting social and climate injustice.
Greenpeace unfurled banners in St. Mark’s Square declaring, “If you can rent
Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” to public applause.
Campaigners emphasized that their crocodile plan
had succeeded without real escalation. One activist said: “We scored a victory
by showing that Venice is not for sale.” The mayor of Venice condemned the
protests, while a mayor from nearby Soàve invited Bezos and Sánchez to marry
there instead.
The tension between luxury tourism and Venice's
fragile ecosystem remains a key issue, especially as super-wealthy guests
arrive under heightened security due to international conflicts and political
sensitivities.
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