Venice protestors show their anger against cruise ships

Venice was the scene of a colourful and noisy protest on Sunday as a small armada of boats turned out to draw attention to large cruise ships which are allowed to pass through the Italian city's canals.

A Thompson Celebration cruise ship became the object of the demonstrators' disapproval.

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Yet at 33,000 tonnes, it was actually one of the smaller liners to pass down the central Giudecca canal each day.

The protesters – residents and environmentalists – argue that increasing cruise ship traffic damages the fragile city, one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

In 2013 a law was passed banning the largest ships, of over 96,000 tonnes, from crossing the canal – and the number of smaller ships was limited to five a day.

But the legislation was overturned at the end of last year, and protests have been on the rise ever since.

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