ROME — Greenpeace on Monday joined the smattering of protests in Venice in opposition to the upcoming wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez.
A half-dozen protesters unfurled an enormous banner early Monday in St. Mark’s Sq. studying: “IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX.” Native police shortly folded it up and took it away.
The demonstration adopted different anti-Bezos initiatives final week together with a banner draped from the San Giorgio bell tower, one from the lagoon metropolis’s well-known Rialto Bridge and posters plastered up round city complaining concerning the upcoming wedding ceremony and the effects of overtourism on Venice.
The “No House for Bezos” motion — a play on phrases additionally referring to the bride’s recent space flight — has united a dozen Venetian organizations together with housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and college teams.
Activists argue the marriage exemplifies broader failures in municipal governance, significantly the prioritization of tourism over resident wants.
Greenpeace stated it teamed with the British group “Everybody Hates Elon,” which has smashed Teslas to protest Elon Musk, for Monday’s banner. Greenpeace stated it wished to attract consideration to the comparitively low taxes many billionaires pay whereas allegedly exacerbating the local weather disaster with environmentally unsustainable life.
Italian and Venetian officers have strongly criticized the protests and welcomed the Bezos-Sanchez nuptials, that are scheduled for later this week.
Over the weekend, because the protests continued to make headlines in Italy, a Venetian environmental analysis affiliation, Corila, stated Bezos’ Earth Fund was supporting its work with an “necessary donation.”
Corila, which unites college students and Italy’s principal nationwide analysis council in researching Venetian protection strategies, wouldn’t say how a lot Bezos was donating however famous contacts started in April, properly earlier than the protests began.