Classless Majorca tourism protesters taunt England fans over losing Euros to Spain | World | News

Demonstrators at Majorca’s anti-mass tourism protest used Spain’s Euros final win to poke fun at English tourists as they branded British holidaymakers “drunks.”

Some of the notable banners displayed through the streets of Palma  included one which said in a gloating play on words over a picture of Kyle Walker: “The only thing coming home is you”.

This was followed by the 2-1 scoreline printed between England and Spain flags. A similar poster carried by another demonstrator took aim at Germans who also lost by the same scoreline in the Euros quarter-finals following a last-gasp Spanish winner.

The message on it said in German: “Out at the finale. Get out of here.” Another of the placards the protestors carried said in English, despite pleas from regional government spokesman Antoni Costa to locals to show foreign visitors “respect” ahead of this evening’s march: “Take back your drunks, give back our homes.”

Other English language messages carried by some on cardboard posters said: “We used to have a life. SOS Residents.”

Another added “Enjoy balconing” in reference to the dangerous practice of jumping from hotel balconies into pools or climbing between terraces. This is something partying Brits in places like Magaluf have been linked to over the years.

Responding to claims they are guilty of unjustly making the holidaymakers the butt of their anger, some protestors had banners which said: “This is not tourism-phobia.”

This evening’s march through the streets of central Palma, staged with the slogan ‘Let’s change direction and put limits on tourism’, got off 10 minutes behind schedule at 7.10pm local time. It was due to end with the reading of a manifesto at 9pm.

According to Spanish police, a total of around 10,000 people made it to the bustling streets of Palma – coinciding with when many Brits would be starting their summer breaks thanks to schools breaking up for six weeks. 

Ahead of the protest, organised by platform Menys Turisme, Mes Vida which in English translates as Less Tourism, More Life,’ activists released a bizarre video appearing to sanction hire car bans and gloat at the idea of empty hotels and no bike tourists.

They also talked about ploughing up the holiday island’s motorway network in the promotional video for the Palma demo.

It was dubbed “emotive” by one local newspaper. But Toni Perez, mayor of British holiday favourite Benidorm, seemed to suggest overnight the groups behind the current wave of protests across Spain targeting the current tourist model were opening the door to the country’s economic suicide with their actions.

Asked if he understood people warning about the “dangers” of mass tourism, he retorted in a newspaper interview: “Has anyone considered that in a European country in which its great strength is the car industry, the population demonstrates against it?”

The scene-setting video for the Majorca protest was put to music and featured images including queues to get onto iconic island cove Calo des Moro and a peloton of foreign cyclists of the sort that help pump hundreds of thousands of pounds into the local economy every year.

It started with the lyrics: “There will be no more regattas, tomorrow is the last cruise” before continuing: “Goodbye rental cars, goodbye rat businesses. Houses will be cheap and we won’t see more cyclists.

It ended with an islander singing in Catalan: “We will plow the highways, the hotels will be empty and so the world will understand that there are too many tourists.

Mr Costa showed politicians in Majorca are worried by begging protestors to leave British holidaymakers alone before this evening’s protest began.

Foreign tourists were booed and jeered by some locals as they ate evening meals on terraces in Palma’s Weyler Square during the last protest in the Majorcan capital on May 25.

Organisers ended up making a public apology for the abuse they received.

Earlier this month tourists were sprayed with water pistols in Barcelona by demonstrators during a protest there against tourist massification.

Mr Costa said earlier this week: “There’s no fear because here it hasn’t happened and people have always been respectful.

“But we have seen a certain type of behaviour in Barcelona which, as you can imagine, we didn’t like.

“We ask for the upmost respect for those who have decided not to demonstrate and urge those who do protest to do so peacefully and not interrupt other citizens and visitors.”

Last night the Melia Palma Bay Hotel was one of a number of buildings in Palma lit up with messages of support ahead of the protest.

A neon message on the front of the hotel, which appeared around 10pm, said: “Let’s put limits on tourism.”

Climate activist Pere Joan Femenia, one of the spokespeople for Menys Turisme Mes Vida said as the protest got underway: “The Balearic Islands have a limit.

“The ability to receive more people has reached its limit.”