A large banner was hung on a bell tower overlooking the Venice lagoon, depicting Amazon founder Jeff Bezos crossed out in red, in protest against his planned wedding at the end of June.
The 61-year-old American billionaire and his journalist fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, are scheduled to celebrate their wedding in Venice from June 24 to 26, with a large number of VIPs in attendance.
In a Facebook post, the group "No Space for Bezos," which hung the banner that was removed Thursday and posted calls for a demonstration against the event, wrote: "He is not welcome in Venice or anywhere else!"
In 2014, the city hosted the wedding of Hollywood actor George Clooney and lawyer Amal Alamuddin.
The group emphasized on social media that "Venice is a vibrant city, not a place to rent at the best price."
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro welcomed the couple's decision to choose Venice for their wedding, telling the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in March that the economic benefits of the wedding would be millions of dollars.
The municipality emphasized that the party would have only 200 guests and would therefore not cause any damage to the city.
Italian media reported that five hotels had been booked for the event, along with a large fleet of water taxis and a marina for Bezos's superyacht.
Opponents of the event pointed to the privatization of a part of the city, which already faces massive tourist flows that authorities are barely able to control.
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