Venice activists plan to disrupt Jeff Bezos’s wedding

Activists in Venice have launched a series of protests against Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, who is due to marry fiancée Lauren Sánchez next week in a lavish, multi-million dollar ceremony that could shut parts of the famous city down.

Jeff Bezos, 61, is the world’s third richest person, with an estimated net worth of $220.9bn. He owns Amazon and space tech company Blue Origin.

Hundreds of high-profile guests are due to descend on Venice between 23 and 28 June for the nuptials, which will reportedly take over the whole island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark’s Square.

According to Italian media almost every luxury hotel has been booked out by the wedding party, as have many water taxis.

“Venice is being treated like a showcase, a stage,” said Federica Toninelli, a 33-year-old Venetian activist affiliated with the No Space for Bezos protest group.

“And this wedding is the symbol of the exploitation of the city by outsiders… Venice is now just an asset.”

No Space for Bezos unites activists belonging to various Venetian collectives – from those campaigning for more housing for Venice’s dwindling population to the anti-cruise ship committee.

“These topics are all linked,” Toninelli told the BBC. “They all have to do with Venice turning into a place that puts tourists, rather than residents, at the centre of its politics.”

On Thursday the collective unfurled banners against Bezos from the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica and the Rialto Bridge. Next week, they plan to disrupt the festivities by jumping into the canals to hinder the water taxis and blocking various calli, Venice’s narrow streets, to prevent the wedding guests from reaching the venue.

In a social media call-out for people to join the protests, activists accused conservative Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro of treating residents “like a nuisance… because for him the only valid use of Venice is as a backdrop for events that make the rich richer.”

Organisers say the aim of the protests – which they insist will be entirely peaceful – is twofold.

“We want to spark a citywide conversation and to say that people like Bezos – who represent a future we don’t want and a world we don’t want to live in – are not welcome here,” Toninelli said, citing Bezos’ business ventures and his proximity to the Trump administration.

But Mayor Brugnaro said he was “ashamed” of the protesters: “What other city would organise a committee against the wedding of such an important person?”

“I hope [Bezos] doesn’t have second thoughts,” he said.

Echoing the mayor’s indignation, jeweller Setrak Tokatzian – who heads the association of St Mark’s shopkeepers – told Italian media that those who protest “hurt the city”.

“This kind of event brings in work and wealth, otherwise all we have left is increasingly low-cost tourism.”

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, an author and former news presenter, have been together for a number of years and became engaged in 2023.

Although details of the wedding have not been revealed, the No Space for Bezos committee believes the couple will tie the knot in the 10th Century Church of the Abbey of Misericordia.

About 200 guests are expected, with many staying in Venice’s most exclusive hotels as well as on Bezos’ yachts, the Koru and the Abeona.

According to Vogue magazine the guest list could include Kim Kardashian – who attended Sánchez’s bachelorette party in Paris last month – and pop star Katy Perry, with whom Sánchez flew to space on a Blue Origin rocket earlier this year. Members of the Trump family are also rumoured to be attending.

Ms Toninelli said protesting Bezos’ lavish wedding would bring attention to the wider problems facing her city and its fragile lagoon.

As local housing is replaced by holiday rentals, Venetians have left the city in droves. According to local activist group Ocio, in 2023 the number of tourists surpassed that of residents for the first time.

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

Last year the city introduced an entrance fee for day trippers on peak dates. Mayor Brugnaro celebrated the scheme as a success, but opposition politicians argue it has not helped spread out the flow of tourists which flood Venice’s narrow streets on a regular basis.

However, Ms Toninelli insisted she and other activists were not against the concept of tourism. “We also like travelling around the world. The problem here is not tourists – it’s exploiting tourism and basing everything on it.”

“We need to think about a post-tourism transition,” she said, highlighting the need to move away from the concept of Venice as a stage for large, glitzy events.

“A city administration that puts residents – and not visitors – front and centre would be a good step forward.”

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

In 2014 actor George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a glitzy affair that saw a host of celebrities descend on the Italian city’s canals. There was no significant uproar of their event at the time.