Gondolier strike

Venice

The gondoliers of Venice crowded their boats into a central Venetian lagoon this week to protest increasing motor traffic in the canals. At least 150 gondolas floated in the Bacino di San Marco, their pilots angry about the latest boat accident, in which a motorized water taxi rammed a gondola. The gondola passengers, a family of Dutch tourists including a baby, were dumped into the smelly Grand Canal. The gondoliers said motorboats had become a threat not only to safety, but to Venice’s tourist industry. “We have had this problem for 30 years,” said Roberto Luppi, president of the gondoliers’ union, “but in the past 10 years it has become frighteningly worse.” Since 1992, seven people have died in gondola accidents.

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