Palma [Spain], August 31: Residents of Mallorca have taken to the streets to protest mass tourism on the popular Spanish holiday island. Around 1,000 demonstrators, according to police, staged a sit-in along a route stretching from Plaza de España in Palma to the regional government headquarters on the waterfront.
The demonstration follows a much larger protest in late July, when around 25,000 people rallied against the effects of tourism on Mallorca, the largest of Spain's Balearic Islands.
Some participants waved homemade signs in English reading "Your paradise, our hell," "Waiting line for a rent in Palma" and "Tourist go home." As there were not enough participants to form an unbroken chain along the entire route, organizers divided the demonstration into several sections.
The protest was organized by environmental groups GOB and Terraferida. The "Menys Turisme, mes vida" initiative, which has previously mobilized tens of thousands of people for protests, did not take part this time. Mallorc has seen housing costs rise sharply in recent years, with illegal holiday rentals among the factors blamed for driving up prices.
Source: Qatar Tribune