Celebrities descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos' star-studded wedding to Lauren Sanchez

By Henry Moore

Celebrities have descended on Venice for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's star-studded wedding celebrations amid a backdrop of protests against the multi-day event.

Listen to this article

Loading audio...

Amazon’s billionaire founder is celebrating his marriage to journalist Lauren Sanchez in a huge celebration across the Italian city this week.

Dozens of stars arrived in the city on Thursday, including Orlando Bloom, who waved to fans as he left Venice's Gritti Palace Hotel.

He was quickly followed by TV presenter Oprah Winfrey.

Read more: Brad Pitt's LA home broken into by burglars who 'scaled fence and smashed windows'

Kim Kardashian, her sister Khloe and her mum Kris were also seen arriving at the event via a water taxi.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner are also expected to attend.

Venice Residents, environmental charities and anti-tourism groups have came out in force to protest the extravagant showing.

About a dozen Venetian organisations - including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups - have united to protest over 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 famous Venetian sites.

They were joined this week by Greenpeace and the British group Everyone Hates Elon, which has smashed Teslas to protest against Elon Musk, to unfurl a giant banner in St Mark's Square protesting over purported tax breaks for billionaires.

"If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax," read the banner, which featured a huge image of Mr Bezos.

Police quickly took it away.

There has been no comment from Mr Bezos's representatives on the protests.

The local activists had planned a more organised protest for Saturday, aiming to obstruct access to canals with boats to prevent guests from reaching a wedding venue.

Then they modified the protest to a march from the train station after claiming a victory, asserting that their pressure forced organisers to change the venue to the Arsenale, a more easily secured site beyond Venice's congested centre.

"It will be a strong, decisive protest, but peaceful," said Federica Toninello, an activist with the Social Housing Assembly network.

"We want it to be like a party, with music, to make clear what we want our Venice to look like."