Venice protests target Bezos over mounting grievances

By Sara Rossi and Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) -Mass tourism, impossibly high rents, worker exploitation, inequality and elitism: Venice, Italy's protests in recent days against Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's high-profile wedding have highlighted growing global grievances.

Local politicians dismissed protesters as a fringe minority. Bezos's fame and Venice's stunning visual backdrop have offered them international visibility which they effectively exploited.

"No Space for Bezos" banners draped over the iconic Rialto Bridge and a huge canvas laid out on St Mark's Square urging the tech billionaire to pay more taxes have been seen all over the world.

Concerns of greater disruptions forced Bezos and his bride to move their final and biggest celebrity party from the central district to a more isolated venue in the eastern part of the lagoon city.

"The idea that the city should be seen as a set, a stage, or an amusement park has been highlighted like never before by Bezos' wedding," Tommaso Cacciari, a frontman for the No Space for Bezos movement, told Reuters.

In the final protest on Saturday, around 1,000 residents and activists rallied in front of Venice's train station under a scorching sun, before marching roughly 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles) to the Rialto Bridge.

They carried banners including one proclaiming 'Kisses yes, Bezos no', playing on Venice's reputation as the city of love, and another one saying 'No space for Bezos' with a rocket, in a reference to his Blue Origin space technology company.

Venetian businesses and politicians, however, welcomed the event, hailing its major boost for the local economy. Luca Zaia, the regional governor of Veneto around Venice, said the city should be proud of hosting the wedding.

TRUMP TIES

Alice Bazzoli, a 24-year-old university student, called Bezos a "hypocrite" for donating 3 million euros ($3.5 million) to Venice while flooding its fragile ecosystem with high-polluting private jets and yachts.

Bezos and Sanchez have given 1 million euros each to three Venetian institutions: CORILA, an academic consortium that studies the lagoon, UNESCO's local office, and Venice International University.

"I'd love Venice to be tailored for citizens, not for tourists, with affordable housing," Bazzoli told Reuters, complaining that students were being priced out of the market, with the best accommodations offered to visitors.

Andrea Segre, a 49-year-old Italian film director born in Venice, said the city was also pushing out ordinary residents.

"People aged 25 to 35 — the age group that starts families — cannot afford to live in Venice. The consequence is a lack of diversity and social liveliness," he said.

Venice is rapidly depopulating, largely because of the cost of living crisis. Its historic city centre now has fewer than 50,000 residents, compared to more than 100,000 some 50 years ago.

The city has hosted scores of other VIP weddings, including that of actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014, but the latest luxury nuptials have attracted far greater resentment because of Bezos' corporate and political role.

The Amazon founder is the world's fourth richest man, and has developed ties with U.S. President Donald Trump, whose daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner were in attendance at the wedding.

"Bezos is the embodiment of the most absolute wealth gained through the exploitation of everything around you," 28-year-old student Giulia Cacopardo told Reuters in the run-up to Saturday's march.

In Italy, the e-commerce giant has faced criticism and strikes from trade unions over labour practices, and scrutiny over tax compliance. Reuters reported in February that Italian prosecutors were investigating alleged tax evasion worth 1.2 billion.

"I would have protested against Bezos even if he had come on a rowboat with just a handful of people ... because he contributed practically, materially and politically to Donald Trump's re-election," protest leader Cacciari said.

($1 = 0.8533 euros)

(Writing by Angelo Amante; editing by Alvise Armellini and Diane Craft)