Two Australian residents have been spotted surfing through Venice on motorised surfboards, outraging the city’s Mayor in the process.
Australians have a polarizing reputation abroad. You either love us or hate us, depending on your tolerance for heavy drinking, partying and tomfoolery. That’s the stereotype, anyway. But in recent months Australians abroad have been doing little to change this perception, with an Australian man recently being arrested for driving a moped through Pompeii and with news breaking this morning that two Australian men have raised the ire of the Venice Mayor, by riding motorised surfboards through Venice.
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After becoming aware of the absurd stunt, Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro wrote (translated from Italian): “Here are two overbearing idiots who make a mockery of the City … I ask everyone to help us identify them to punish them even if our weapons are really blunt … we urgently need more powers to the Mayors in terms of public safety! To those who spot them, I offer a dinner!”
Beneath the Mayor’s tweet, some asked what the problem was (one wrote: “Are you being an extra-boomer? Did they cause an accident or danger? Doesn’t seem so. The world is changing, you’re just being annoying if you want to keep that change from happening, you can only delay it”), while others questioned which article of the navigation code (specific to Venice) applies, saying they couldn’t see any major violations.
“Whole world is burning down and old bald dudes getting triggered and forgetting what it was like to be young.”
Twitter user VaporWaffles
Other Twitter users, including one called Daniele E, posted further footage of the pair surfing through Venice.
— Daniel E (@angloswissguy) August 18, 2022
One response to those defending the pair was: “It is not the best both for safety… and for the effects of the propellers on the walls of Venice.”
According to Il Gazzettino, the pair are both residents of Australia, with one being a Chinese person and another being an English person. The pair were reportedly told to leave the city and fined 1,500 euros each ($4,320 AUD all up)…
Ecco due imbecilli prepotenti che si fanno beffa della Città… chiedo a tutti di aiutarci a individuarli per punirli anche se le nostre armi sono davvero spuntate… servono urgentemente più poteri ai Sindaci in tema di sicurezza pubblica!
— Luigi Brugnaro (@LuigiBrugnaro) August 17, 2022
A chi li individua offro una cena! pic.twitter.com/DV2ONO3hUs
That’s one hell of an expensive surf…
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