Protesters have vowed to ‘reclaim’ a beach turned into a holiday hotspot by influencer Instagrammers.
The picture postcard cove of Calo des Moro on Majorca's south-east coast is set to become the latest battleground in the struggle against holidaymaker saturation locals say is making their lives a misery.
Platform Mallorca Platja Tour - Majorcan Beach Tour in Catalan - started their campaign last Saturday at south coast Sa Rapita Beach. The event was designed to be an early skirmish in what protesters hope will be a long running campaign on the Spanish island.
However, critics dubbed the turnout poor despite promises from supporters to ‘squeeze’ out foreign tourists. A picture of the event saw just a few dozen people huddled on the sand beneath a beach umbrella.
Have you been impacted by the protests in Spain? Email webtravel@reachplc.com
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Calo des Moro is undeniably pretty (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Organisers of the new protest are using the claims it was a damp squib to urge locals to hit back with a mass take-over. They have posted articles of UK newspapers mocking the June 1 turnout, claiming: “British media are provoking us. Majorcans, will we allow it? On Sunday June 16 at Cala des Moro we’ll see who’s laughing.”
Now they are planning to target a secluded cove, which last week was already packed with tourists and in summer is now regarded as a no-go area by many locals. They said: “Calo des Moro is a symbol of the massification of our beaches and it’s why we’ve chosen to go there and have a dip on June 16.”
A supporter pledging his support for the beach protest, due to start at 8am and finish at 1pm, said overnight: “What Majorcan would think of going to Cala des Moro on a summer Sunday? Impossible. It’s full of Instagrammers who go just to take their picture.”
Mallorca Platja Tour, which claims it has no leaders and uses the hashtag ‘Occupy our beaches’ to promote its actions, has insisted online it is not anti-tourist.
It has linked its protests to the comments late last month of Manuela Canadas, spokeswoman for far-right wing party Vox in the Balearic Islands’ regional parliament.
She responded to an anti mass tourism protest in the the island capital Palma on May 25 by saying: “I understand the discontent but us Majorcans, who live directly or indirectly from tourism, cannot expect to go to the beach in July and August like we did years ago.”
Claiming the Palma demo, which around 15,000 people took part in, sent out tourism-phobic messages she added: “There are other more attractive destinations and we can end up going hungry because here’s there a lack of jobs.”
A group called Banc del Temps based in the inland Majorcan town of Sencelles organised last month's demo under the slogan ‘Mallorca no se vende’ which is Spanish for ‘Majorca is not up for sale.' One of the organisers had to apologise afterwards for the abuse directed at holidaymakers.
Some vistors were booed and jeered by some locals as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square.
Marchers were also heard chanting ‘Tourists go home’ as they passed through the central square on the 20-minute route from the park where the protest began to iconic street Paseo del Borne.
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A day before the Palma march around 1,000 protestors took part in a protest in Ibiza to vent their anger over the effects of mass tourism. Campaigners held up banners saying ‘We don’t want an island of cement’ and ‘Tourism, yes but not like this’ as they massed outside Ibiza Council’s HQ.
The organisers of the Ibiza demo, a group called Prou Eivissa, met with Ibiza’s president Vicent Mari before taking to the streets.
Their demands include a limit on the number of vehicles that can enter the island in summer and a ban on using taxpayers’ cash to promote Ibiza as a tourist destination.
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