Protests and glamour collide at Bezos’ star-studded Venice wedding
The wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez has caused division in Venice, with protests breaking out as the glamorous festivities continue.
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The wedding party of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and TV presenter Lauren Sanchez, estimated to rack up a bill of around $50 million, concludes on Saturday evening in Venice with the main gala event.
However, crowds of some Venetians gathered to protest against the big event as celebrity guests prepared to step into water taxis from their luxury hotels.
The couple exchanged their vows in a lavish ceremony on the small Venetian island of San Giorgio on Friday.
The protests are said to have varied causes, from locals opposed to over-tourism in a delicate city, to activists protesting against climate change and capitalism.
Read more: They’re Bez-otted: Amazon boss ties the knot in star-studded $20m Venice wedding ceremony
Hundreds marched through the city on Saturday, hanging a "no space for Bezos" banner from the Rialto bridge and setting off multicoloured flares.
But plans to launch themselves into the city's canals with inflatable crocodiles and block the wedding guests' passage were reportedly dropped.
When a local journalist asked what Bezos what he made of the protests, he responded by blowing kisses towards the cameras.
The city's deputy mayor dismissed the activists as "narcissists" and insisted the wedding was the "high-quality tourism" Venice needs.
Simone Venturini, city councillor for economic developments, said he hoped "a lot of people will want to get married in Venice" now and boost the city's wedding sector.
"We are not Iran. The city cannot say who can or who cannot get married. We have no moral police going around," he said.
The activists have so far succeeded in triggering a last-minute venue change for the party on Saturday, with the event moved further from the city centre for security reasons.
The new venue, Arsenale, is reportedly easier to protect.
Protesters have argued that mass tourism is damaging the city, and the high-profile guests have arrived on private jets, causing further damage to the planet.
Meanwhile, the Italian media have generally leapt dubbed the event as the "wedding of the year", with spreads featuring pictures of the 200 or so A-list celebrities now in town, including tech billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, Leonardo di Caprio and Kim Kardashian.
Before the festivities began, the couple hosted a foam party on Bezos's $500 million (£371 million) superyacht moored in the city - the same yacht on which he asked Ms Sanchez to marry him two years ago.