Lavish Jeff Bezos wedding sparks fierce Venice tax protest

Irate local protesters targeted Jeff Bezos's opulent wedding celebrations in Venice on Monday by unveiling a gigantic banner in San Marco Square demanding that the American billionaire pay higher taxes. The stunt coincided with the Amazon boss' large-scale nuptials in the historic city, drawing attention from police, passers by and - soon - the world's media (Picture: REUTERS)

The huge flag showed a photo of Bezos grinning, along with the message: 'If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.' Italian police responded quickly, checking the IDs of those involved and speaking with them about their plans for the protest (Picture: REUTERS)

The stunt was organized by an affiliation of members of Greenpeace and the protest group Everyone Hates Elon. After approximately half an hour, the activists packed up the banner voluntarily. Police then removed it from the square, meaning there was no unrest or any ugly scenes. But the protesters' point had well and truly been made (Picture: REUTERS)

Simona Abbate, a vocal Greenpeace campaigner involved in the banner-based objection, said that the protest was designed to highlight the imbalance of power and wealth. 'We think that one big billionaire can't rent a city for his pleasure. We think that the people should have the same power and the same rights,' she told reporters (Picture: AP/Greenpeace)

Abbate also called upon ultra-wealthy individuals like Bezos to contribute more to the public purse by way of taxes. She cited healthcare and climate initiatives as areas that require greater financial investment (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

The demonstration certainly caught the attention of tourists in the popular square. The banner was so big, there's no way it could do anything but. Many onlookers stopped to watch the scene unfold amid the city’s famous canals and iconic Renaissance architecture (Picture: ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)

Seemingly it's not just the protest groups that feel this way. 'If you can afford to shut down the city just for a wedding… You can pay more taxes! And, yes, you can help out people in the world that need it,' said Crystal Yoder, a tourist visiting from the United States. The protest follows others around Europe from local communities who have grown tired at over tourism and the negative effects of those who visit their homeland in their droves (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

Venice has been at the forefront at such demonstrations in recent years. In fact, the Veneto city is one of the most famous European cities to levy a tourist tax to try and offset some of the consequences of too many tourists impacting the famously delicate infrastructure of the canal-heavy city which sits rather delicately on a lagoon. In fact, back in February, city chiefs opted to double the daily tourist tax to €10 for late bookers (Picture: Stefano Mazzola/Getty Images)