'Eat the rich': Mass protests in Venice overshadow Bezos wedding amid tourism woes

Mass tourism, soaring rents, worker exploitation, inequality, and elitism — protests in Venice in recent days against Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s high-profile wedding have shone a spotlight on global frustrations.

Local politicians dismissed the protesters as a small fringe group. Yet, Bezos’s celebrity status and Venice’s iconic scenery gave activists a global stage they used to amplify their message.

Banners reading “No Space for Bezos” hung from the famous Rialto Bridge, and a giant canvas laid out in St Mark’s Square urged the tech billionaire to pay more taxes — images that quickly spread worldwide.

“Bezos, out of the lagoon”, the demonstrators chanted as they wound through the city centre, some brandishing signs that read: “Eat the rich”, “Rejected”, and accusations that Venice’s mayor is “corrupt”.

Concerns about further disruptions forced Bezos and his bride to shift their final and biggest celebrity party from the city centre to a more secluded spot in the eastern part of Venice’s lagoon.

“The idea that the city should be seen as a film set, a stage, or an amusement park has never been clearer than with Bezos’s wedding,” said Tommaso Cacciari, a leader of the No Space for Bezos movement, speaking to Reuters.

At the final protest on Saturday, around 1,000 residents and activists gathered outside Venice’s train station under the blazing sun, then marched about 1.5 kilometres to the Rialto Bridge.

They carried banners with slogans like “Kisses yes, Bezos no,” a nod to Venice’s romantic image, and “No Space for Bezos,” featuring a rocket in reference to his Blue Origin space company.

Meanwhile, many Venetian businesses and politicians welcomed the wedding, praising the significant boost it brought to the local economy. Luca Zaia, the regional governor of Veneto, said the city should be proud to have hosted the event.