Venice residents protest against payment system
STORY: Holding banners reading "No to ticket for Vene-Land" and chanting "Here we live and here we stay", a few hundred people peacefully marched through Piazzale Roma to express their no to the new measure.
The protesters say they want a reduction in the number of tourists but don't agree the introduction of the payment system.
Signs were set up outside the train station and near an entry footbridge warning visitors they had to pay the new 5-euro ($5.35) charge before diving into Venice's narrow alleyways.
The initiative is one of a series of measures in place across Italy to manage tourist flows.
Some 20 million people visited Venice last year, a city official said, with roughly half of them staying overnight in hotels or holiday lets - an influx which dwarfs the resident population currently put at around 49,000.
