VENICE, Italy — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez arrived in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday ahead of their star-studded weekend wedding, which has galvanized an assortment of protesters.
Bezos waved from a water taxi as he and Sanchez arrived at the dock of the Aman Hotel on the Grand Canal with two security boats in tow.
Their wedding has drawn protests by groups who view it as a sign of the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots, while residents complain it exemplifies the way their needs are disregarded in the era of mass tourism to the historic lagoon city.
About a dozen Venetian organizations — including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups — have united to protest the multi-day event under the banner ''No Space for Bezos,'' a play on words also referring to the bride's recent space flight.
They have staged small-scale protests, unfurling anti-Bezos banners on iconic Venetian sites. They were joined Monday by Greenpeace and the British group ''Everyone Hates Elon,'' which has smashed Teslas to protest Elon Musk, to unfurl a giant banner in St. Mark's Square protesting purported tax breaks for billionaires.
On Wednesday, other activists launched a float down the Grand Canal featuring a mannequin of Bezos clinging onto an Amazon box, his fists full of fake dollars. The British publicity firm that announced the stunt said it wasn't a protest of the wedding ''but against unchecked wealth, media control, and the growing privatisation of public spaces.''
Bezos' representatives have not commented on the protests.
The local activists had planned a more organized protest for Saturday, aiming to obstruct access to canals with boats to prevent guests from reaching a wedding venue. They modified the protest to a march from the train station after claiming a victory, asserting that their pressure forced organizers to change the venue to the Arsenale, a more easily secured site beyond Venice's congested center.
