Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos – the third- or fourth-richest person on the planet, depending on the list – is hosting various wedding events in Venice, Italy, this week, festivities that have drawn protests, including a massive banner on Tuesday.

Activists with Greenpeace Italy and the UK action group Everyone Hates Elon – targeting Elon Musk, US President Donald Trump’s close far-right ally and the wealthiest person on Earth – unfolded a banner that read, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax”, in Piazza San Marco.

“While Venice is sinking under the weight of the climate crisis, billionaires are partying like there is no tomorrow on their mega-yachts,” Greenpeace campaigner Clara Thompson said.

“This isn’t just about one person – it’s about changing the rules so no billionaire can dodge responsibility, anywhere.

“The real issue is a broken system that lets billionaires skip out on their fair share of taxes while everyone else is left to foot the bill,” she argued.

“That’s why we need fair, inclusive tax rules, and they must be written at the UN.”

Reporting the display of the Venice banner – which features Bezos’ face and is about 20 metres long and wide – Reuters said  local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents before they rolled up their banner.

“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.

A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon similarly said that “as governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married”.

“Just weeks ago, he spent millions on an 11-minute space trip,” the spokesperson added, referring to the Blue Origin flight for multiple public figures, including Bezos’ fiancée, Lauren Sánchez.

“If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it’s this.”

Jeff Bezos pays his staff poverty wages and dodges tax. No wonder he can afford to shut down half of Venice for his wedding this week. Tax billionaires NOW.Location: Piazza San Marco, [email protected] #JeffBezos #TaxTheSuperRich

— Everyone Hates Elon (@everyonehateselon.bsky.social) 2025-06-23T10:53:54.552Z

Bezos and Sánchez’s event planners, Lanza and Baucina, told CNN: “Rumours of ‘taking over’ the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality … From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: The minimising of any disruption to the city.”

The details surrounding Bezos’ marriage to the former news anchor have been closely guarded, but CNN reported that about 30 of Venice’s 280 water taxis are thought to be reserved, the city’s nine yacht ports are booked, and one source said that special permission has been granted for private helicopters.

While Venice’s mayor and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the billionaire’s luxury wedding events, citing economic benefits for local businesses, “the No Space for Bezos movement – a play on words also referring to the bride’s recent space flight – has united a dozen Venetian organisations including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners, and university groups,” according to The Associated Press.

The Bloomberg and Forbes lists tracking global billionaires put Bezos’ net worth between US$223.4 billion ($334 billion) and US$231 billion ($335 billion) as of Monday.

At times in recent years, he has been believed to be the richest person in the world.