How protesters plan to disrupt the Bezos wedding…. with blow-up crocodiles ...Middle East

Inflatable crocodiles are expected to feature in massive demonstrations against the multimillion-pound wedding celebrations of Jeff Bezos which kick off tomorrow in Venice.

The Amazon founder and his fiancée, Lauren Sánchez, a US former television journalist, will tie the knot this week during a three-day celebration in the Unesco World Heritage-listed city, with a packed celebrity guestlist reported to include Leonardo DiCaprio, Katy Perry, Mick Jagger and Kim Kardashian.

City officials have been guarded about the exact dates of the wedding. The city’s tourism councillor, Simone Venturini, told The i Paper he had no idea when the event would actually take place. However, the precise dates are slated to be tomorrow, Friday and Saturday.

The celebrations are expected to start tomorrow with a pre-wedding gala on the tiny island of San Giovanni Evangelista, home to just 11 residents. On Friday, Bezos and Sánchez are set to exchange vows on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, rented out exclusively for the day and closed to the public.

The couple have reportedly invited about 200 guests to the event.

However, activists opposed to the wedding being held in Venice are threatening wide-scale disruption to the event.

Giulia Cacopardo, an activist from the grassroots group No Space for Bezos, which is leading the protests, told The i Paper that inflatable crocodiles would play a part in their demonstrations after the group claimed to secure a previous crocodile-related victory.

The couple’s main wedding reception was initially scheduled to take place at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a 16th-century building in the city’s Cannaregio district, but has been relocated to the Arsenale after activists threatened to block the canals with inflatable crocodiles to prevent the arrival of guests.

The organisation has been tight-lipped about the specific details of the protests over the next few days, claiming they would be a “surprise”.

However, Cacopardo, who sits on the committee for No Space for Bezos, divulged to The i Paper that they had been working day and night in the days to the lead-up. There would be no boats involved, she said, but crocodiles would make an appearance.

When asked why crocodiles, Cacopardo responded: “Because they’re associated with being cunning and dangerous.”

Local media reports suggested the change of venue to the Arsenale, a historic shipyard complex encircled by fortified walls, was driven by heightened security concerns following the escalation of conflict between Israel and Iran following US strikes, especially after Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, arrived in Venice on Tuesday.

US air base Aviano, the closest to Venice, is just 50 miles north from Venice, prompting local officials and Bezos’ own security team to tighten measures.

“I don’t believe the change is because of this for one second,” said Cacopardo. “I believe they changed the venue because the thought of inflatable crocodiles around Scuola Grande della Misericordia would have been ridiculous. The pictures would have been something else and so it’s a huge victory for us.”

Cacopardo and her colleagues are now plotting an all-out protest for Saturday. The protest is set to start at 5pm from Ponte Nicolò Pasqualigo on Strada Nova, one of the main streets, and wind its way into the centre of the city. Hundreds, if not thousands are thought to be attending, the group claims.

“At the moment we’re collaborating and working on the logistics of the move at Laboratorio Occupato Morion social centre in the Castello district,” said Giacomo Cervo, a political figure for Sinistra Italiana Venezia, who lives in the city and has been involved in the protests.

“Our party is helping the No Space for Bezos movement ahead of the big protest by distributing posters and leaflets.”

Despite the secrecy surrounding the wedding, the guest list is rumoured to include stars like Orlando Bloom, Elton John, Mick Jagger, Tom Brady, Eva Longoria and Oprah Winfrey to name a few. Around 95 private jets are expected to land at Venice’s airport over the next few days.

The first VIP guests have been arriving this week, including Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner;  Amazon investor Bill Miller; fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg, and New York–based jewellry designer Sandra Leong alongside her philanthropist husband, Robert Gelfond. The couple were escorted to a £1,000-a-night hotel, where other A-list guests will also be staying.

Also due to arrive on Wednesday is Elana Jassy, wife of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, with the pair travelling via a connecting flight from London.

Nautically speaking, Arience, a 60-metre yacht owned by American fund manager and Amazon investor Bill Miller, was moored near St Mark’s earlier this week as was Kismet, a 122-metre superyacht owned by Pakistani-American billionaire and Fulham FC owner Shahid Khan.

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Locals plot protests as superyachts descend on Venice for Bezos wedding

Bezos’ $500 million (£372 million) superyacht Koru and its support vessel Abeona were originally expected to be moored in Venice, but that plan appears to have been scrapped, with No Space for Bezos also claiming it as a win.

Over the last few weeks, their protests have made international press. Last weekend they hung a sign with their group name off the Rialto Bridge and one week prior draped a banner off the San Giorgio Maggiore bell tower with Bezos’ name crossed out.

Earlier this week Greenpeace activists unfurled a poster in St Mark’s Square reading: “If you can rent Venice you can pay more tax”. A spokesperson for Greenpeace Italy told The i Paper that they would not be staging any protests before or on the wedding.

Regardless, No Space for Bezos is pushing on, in spite of President of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, saying to “leave them in peace.”

The activists’ key objective is to oppose everything Bezos stands for. “This is our city. We won’t make this easy for him,” concluded Cacopardo.

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