Post date: Nov 15, 2016 1:0:20 PM
A few days ago, one of our team members messaged our group chat saying that she encountered a protest as she walked around the city. That same day, we discovered an article reporting on that same demonstration. Native Venetians are protesting high numbers of tourists, as well as the rising cost of living. The protest has been named "Venexodus," or "Venetian Exodus." Protestors carried empty suitcases to emphasize the exodus of locals leaving the island city, upset by the lack of affordable housing for natives compared to the excess of accommodations for tourists. While these locals do not want to leave, the circumstances feel out of their control. Their protest is intended to alert the city's government to the problem so that the already fragile social structure of Venice does not suffer more.
Additional information can be found at the Telegraph, BBC, and NBC.