Jeff Bezos has reportedly been forced to move his Venice wedding to TV personality Lauren Sanchez after Venice residents threatened to fill the city’s canals with inflatable crocodiles to stop guests arriving. Amazon founder Bezos had been expected to hold a party at a 16th-century hall in the city centre as part of three-day celebrations for his wedding. The Bezos Lauren Sanchez Wedding had Venice buzzing with excitement until protests began.
Residents Protests
Venice residents had accused Bezos of effectively shutting down Venice owing to the number of private jets expected to land in Venice for the Bezos Lauren Sanchez Wedding event.
Tommaso Cacciari, a member of the No Space for Bezos protest group, said: “This is a big victory for us.
“Who would have thought that we could change the plans of one of the richest men on the planet?”
He added that a demonstration planned for Saturday thought to be the main day of celebrations will still go ahead.
“We’ll leave the periphery of the city to them but we will be reclaiming the centre of Venice.” He said.
Alongside the planned protests, the switch was also prompted by heightened concerns of potential terrorist threats to the Bezos Lauren Sanchez Wedding because of the tense situation in the Middle East and war between Israel and Iran especially with certain members of the Trump family including Donald Trump Jr and Ivanka Trump attending the wedding.
Various activist groups have coalesced under the slogan “No Space for Bezos”, which is a play on the billionaire’s Blue Origin space exploration venture.
New Location
The wedding will reportedly be moved to the Arsenale (Arsenal in English), a huge complex of boat yards, basins, warehouses and canals where Venetians built warships and merchant vessels for centuries. Until the 18th century, it was Europe’s largest industrial complexes. Securing this new venue is necessary to ensure a peaceful atmosphere for the Bezos Lauren Sanchez Wedding.
Surrounded by crenelated walls, the Arsenale will be much easier to secure than the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, which has easy public access.
There is also an elaborately decorated gateway at the Arsenale’s main entrance guarded by a group of large stone lions, one of which was taken from the Greek island of Delos.
Darco Pellos, Venice’s police chief, said: “We have raised the level of alert as a result of the international situation so as to guarantee the security of tourists and residents.
“Private events with a high international profile will be monitored closely,” he added, referring to the Bezos Lauren Sanchez Wedding.
