Tourists in Majorca have been warned to expect even more protests after activists vowed to “reclaim” one of the holiday island’s beach hotspots.
Majorca Platja Tour, a protest group in the Spanish resort, announced it would be running a demonstration on Sunday as part of the “Occupy our Beaches” movement – adding to a wave of anti-tourist sentiment which has gripped the Mediterranean.
The group are staging the protest at Playa de Palma, one of the most popular beaches in Majorca – particularly among German tourists, who have attracted particular ire from activists.
Majorca Platja Tour have promised that any action will be “playful and festive” – but said their protests stood in opposition to authorities’ “inaction” on tourist overcrowding across the islands.
This isn’t the first time the group have taken action – protests which unfolded in nearby Caló des Moro were a move to reclaim an area which locals had abandoned.
But this latest demonstration is targeting Majorca’s Balneario 6, or Ballermann, as German tourists know it – which Majorca Platja Tour says symbolises a “drunken beach… a tourist model that we think does us a lot of harm”.
Announcing the protests on social media, the group said that despite “many meetings of experts”, locals had not yet felt “any of the necessary measures to change a tourism model which impoverishes most of us”.
The demonstrations have been branded as a return to the 1960s and 1970s – a “trip to the past” to remind locals and visitors alike of how the islands felt before mass tourism – when they could “find clean beaches with friendly and welcoming residents.”
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The planned demonstration follows a wave of anti-tourist protests in Majorca
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Residents chimed in online to voice their displeasure with authorities, too.
One said: “With the number of abandoned buildings in Cala Major in Palma City, can’t the city council or Balearic Islands government rescue them and use them as social housing? We are in an emergency!”
But online concerns and Sunday’s slated “playful” protests follow a set of mass demonstrations which have unfolded across the islands in recent weeks.
At the end of last month, some 20,000 protesters filled the streets of Palma de Majorca holding posters targeting British and German tourists alike.
A protester is seen holding up a placard expressing his opinion during a demonstration against mass tourism
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Locals were seen holding English-language banners aloft – with one reading: “Take Back Your Drunks, Give Back Our Homes,” while another poster, mocking England’s 2-1 defeat against Spain in the Euro 2024 final, added: “The only thing coming home is you.”
But the regional government of the Balearic Islands urged protesters against using the same tactics adopted in Barcelona earlier last month, when demonstrators squirted tourists with water pistols in the streets of the Catalan capital.
And during a separate demonstration in Majorca in May, tourists were jeered and goaded by a group of protesters – prompting organisers to later apologise.
Despite the demos, the Balearic Islands remain Spain’s second-most popular tourist hotspot – with 14.4 million holidaymakers visiting last year.
Source Agencies
