Several hundred protesters clashed briefly with riot police in Venice on Friday as they demonstrated against the arrival of a luxury super yacht belonging to Tilman Fertitta, the billionaire US ambassador to Italy. The protest reflects growing resentment in Venice towards displays of American wealth, coinciding with wider Italian unease over the Trump administration's foreign policy and its perceived disruption of the post-World War II international order.

Fertitta, a hospitality mogul, moored his 117-metre yacht Boardwalk in St Mark's Basin as part of a "Coastal Diplomacy 250" tour of 13 Italian coastal regions marking 250 years of American independence. Demonstrators, carrying inflatable toys and placards reading "Make America Read Again" and "Oligarch in saor", were pushed back by police shields after refusing to stop near the vessel, before shouting "Shame!" at the ambassador, the mayor and police. Many of the same activist groups previously protested Jeff Bezos's Venice wedding, with organiser Stella Morion citing opposition to Trump's foreign policy, including US strikes on Iran, which she said have driven up energy prices.