Over ten thousand people took to the streets of the resort city of Palma de Mallorca on the largest of the Spanish Balearic Islands - Majorca to protest against the influx of tourists under the title "Tourists, go home!", reported DPA, quoted by BTA.
Many carried placards reading "Let's say "Enough!" and "Mallorca is not for sale" during a protest march last night, the agency notes. According to the organizers, twenty-five thousand people joined the protests, condemning the increase in the number of guests on the island and in tourist apartment complexes against the background of the housing crisis.
Many families with small children, schoolchildren, students and the elderly could be seen in the procession, as well as representatives of trade unions, environmentalists and people from other civil organizations, DPA notes.
Tourism is vital to the island of Mallorca, but according to the majority of the population, few benefit from it, while the majority of locals working in the tourism sector live on low wages, housing shortages, street congestion, noise and litter the streets, DPA points out.
Almost 1.2 million people live permanently in the Balearic Islands. Last year, the number of tourists jumped to nearly 18 million, with 14.4 million of them being foreigners.
Yesterday's protest was organized after four people died on Thursday after a part of the two-story “Meduza Beach Club” restaurant collapsed. on a beach in Palma de Mallorca.