Natalia Penza 2024-06-16 09:58, Updated 2024-06-16 10:20
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Islanders keep promise to “reclaim” Calo des Moro from vacationers
In the latest mass anti-tourism protest in Spain, hundreds of activists today occupied a picture-postcard cove in Mallorca that was made famous around the world by Instagram influencers.
Shortly after 8 a.m., islanders took over every inch of the tiny, 98-foot-wide stretch of sand with their beach towels, keeping their promise to “reclaim” beautiful Calo des Moro from foreign tourists.
The number of protesters swelled to more than 300 by around 10 a.m. local time, coinciding with the arrival of the first foreign day-trippers.
They turned back after being informed by activists of what was happening.
Around the same time, about six security guards also showed up.
In Spain’s latest anti-mass tourism protests, hundreds of activists took over a postcard-perfect cove in Mallorca today, islanders covering every inch of the tiny, 98-foot-wide stretch of sand with beach towels, making good on their promise to “reclaim” beautiful Calo des Moro from foreign tourists.
The protest went ahead despite calls from local mayor Maria Pons for organisers Mallorca Playa Tours to reconsider.
They have called on protest leaders to reveal their identities but do not appear to intend to sanction them in any way.
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One eyewitness said: “The first tourists to arrive seemed very surprised to see the place packed so early.”
“However, once it was explained to them they seemed to understand what was going on and turned around and left without a fuss.”
“If the aim of today’s action was to take back our beaches and condemn the massive influx of tourists, that has certainly been achieved,” said one islander who supports the protests.
“Today Cala des Moro is undoubtedly Mallorca.”
She claimed earlier this week that tourist must-visit south coast coves, which locals turn their backs on for many months of the year, have now become an “obsession” and what they need is a break.
“Calo des Moro will one day belong to the people of Mallorca,” Platform Mallorca Platja Tours said at the start of the protest.
“For one day Calo des Moro belongs to Mallorcans,” Platform Mallorca Platja Tours said at the start of the protest. Activists held up a huge banner spanning the cove that read: “Ocupem Les Nostres Platges” (“Occupy our beaches”).
As well as laying beach towels between the rocks on either side of the sand, activists unfurled a huge banner across the bay reading “Ocupem Les Nostres Platges” (“Occupy our beaches”).
Protesters, some of whom were already in bikinis even though the sun had only just risen, applauded as stones were laid on the sand, before chanting in unison: “Destination Mallorca, don’t destroy it!”
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Others held up small banners bearing the message “SOS Residents.”
By around 8:30 a.m., about 250 people had already taken part in the activity, but many were unable to gather on the beach below the cliffs and were forced to stay on the path leading down to the cliffs.
To protect the beaches, people who found a spot on the sand were asked to remove their shoes and place them in a box.
Others stayed in a nearby car park and distributed leaflets in English and German informing tourists about the mobilization.
The protest was the second organised by the platform Mallorca Playa Tours, following a rally on Sa Rapita beach on the island’s southern coast on June 1.
Before Calo des Moro was announced as the venue, it was touted as the first show of force for today’s event, but critics criticised Sa Rapita’s low turnout at the time, despite supporters promising to “keep out” foreign tourists.
The number of protesters had swelled to more than 300 by about 10 a.m. local time, coinciding with the arrival of the first foreign day-trippers. People applauded protesters standing on the cliffs taking photos with their phones. The site has been made famous around the world by Instagram influencers. Protesters had previously complained that the area was “full of Instagrammers who come just to take photos.”
The “recapture” event at Calo des Moro was due to run until around 1pm today but went ahead as planned despite the mayor of Santani, where the event is being held, saying he needed a break to recuperate.
“We understand the demonstrations and we’re not going to do anything to stop them, but Calo des Moro needs a break,” Maria Pons said earlier this week.
“All we want is for local people to be able to live in peace every day of the year.”
“Police have confirmed that when Calo des Moro is featured in the news, the influx of visitors increases.”
“Residents living nearby feel the pressure with thousands of people passing by every day.”
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Speaking at a full city council meeting, she harshly criticised the social media stars who have transformed the cove, saying: “Some tourists change their swimsuits three or four times, take different selfies and claim in their online profiles that they have been to Calo des Moro many times.”
“If we continue on the way we are now, erosion will continue and the cove will no longer exist.”
“As a tourist municipality, city hall leaders know that its wealth comes from tourists.”
“But what Calo des Moro needs is for people, including the media, to forget about it this season.”
Following the mayor’s wife’s comments, Mallorca Platja Tours has pledged to ensure that the cove will be protected and no lasting damage will be caused during the beach “reclamation” event.
“We share Mayor Santani’s concerns about the saturation of Calo des Moros,” the group said in a statement ahead of today’s event.
“So we chose it as a symbol of a place that residents can’t go to anymore because it’s always crowded with tourists.”
“We who go on Sunday are people who love this land, and that’s why we shouldn’t have any inappropriate influences that harm the area.”
Mallorca Plaja Tours claims on the internet that it is not anti-tourist.
The group linked the protests to comments made late last month by Manuela Cañadas, a spokesman for the far-right Vox party in the Balearic Islands regional parliament.
By about 8:30 a.m., about 250 people had already joined the movement, although many were unable to gather on the beach. The “rebirth” event at Calo des Moro was due to run until about 1 p.m. today, but went ahead as planned, despite Mayor Santani, who was in attendance, saying he needed a break to recuperate.
She responded to another anti-mass tourism protest in Palma, the capital of Mallorca, on May 25 by saying: “I understand the frustration, but we Mallorcans who make our living directly or indirectly from tourism cannot expect to be able to go to the beach in July and August like we did many years ago.”
An estimated 15,000 people took part in a protest in Parma last month, which led one organiser to apologise after the fact for using abusive language against foreign tourists.
The shocked tourists were greeted with boos and jeers from local residents as they were having dinner on a terrace in Parma’s Plaza Weiller.
Protesters could also be heard chanting “tourists go home” as they passed through the central square on the 20-minute walk from the park where the protest began to the iconic Borne Street.
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Among the banners held up by activists was the offensive message “Save Mallorca, kick the foreigners out”, which is Catalan Spanish for “Save Mallorca, kick the foreigners out”.
It’s a play on the Spanish colloquialism “Guiri”, which is usually used somewhat unkindly to describe Nordic tourists, such as the British holidaymakers who party in Magaluf.
Another placard read in Catalan: “Everywhere you look, they’re Giri.”
The protest in Palma came a day after around 1,000 people rallied outside the Ibiza Council headquarters to vent their anger over the impacts of mass tourism.
Activists gathered outside the Ibiza Council headquarters, holding banners reading “We don’t want a cement island” and “We support tourism, but not an island like this”.
Organisers of the Ibiza protest, a group called Prou Eivissa, met with Ibiza’s President Vicente Mari before taking to the streets.
Their demands include limiting the number of vehicles allowed on the island in summer and banning the use of taxpayers’ money to promote Ibiza as a tourist destination.
The protest concluded with a letter being read out from a woman born in Ibiza, who linked her decision to leave the island with her family and move to mainland Spain to a “destructive” model of tourism that has led to “more cars, more tourists and more disrespect.”
Protesters hold a banner reading “Mallorca is not for sale” during a demonstration against mass tourism and housing prices. Last month, thousands of residents protested on the Canary island of Tenerife, calling on the government to temporarily limit tourists. In the Balearic islands, graffiti reads “My misery, your paradise.” “Tourists go home” was scrawled in English on a wall beneath a sign advertising real estate in Mallorca’s Nuo Llevant neighbourhood, which has seen a large influx of foreign buyers in the past few years.
On June 8, around 1,000 people gathered in the central square of Menorca’s capital, Mahón, in another mass protest against tourism in the area.
Locals took part in the demonstration in the square in front of the island’s council headquarters, some of whom brought deck chairs, towels and sunshades and spent the day recreating a beach on the concrete.
Ahead of the protest, organisers GOB Menorca denounced “tourism colonisation” and highlighted issues such as Airbnb-style holiday rentals linked to a shortage of affordable housing, arguing that “Menorca has been suffering from excessive tourism for many years and congestion is getting worse”.
“Colonial tourism has spread first to our coasts, then to the countryside, then to our towns, and now to our homes.”
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Protesters held signs reading in Catalan, “Those who love Menorca will not sell it” and “You can’t swim in the sea because the boats are full.”
“Today we’re dressed as tourists, so maybe they’ll listen to us,” said Pau Marquez, a local who showed up in swimming trunks underneath a hotel-style spa robe.
Government spokesman Miguel Camps insisted the protesters were not “anti-tourist” and warned: “If our politicians can’t stop tourist saturation, we are not going to sit back and do nothing.”
Activists are now planning large-scale, Canary-style demonstrations across the Balearic islands next month, at the height of the holiday season.
July 21st has been suggested as a possible date for the storm to make its impact on archipelagos off the eastern coast of Spain, including the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza, Menorca and Formentera.
Organisers are expecting it to be the largest protest in Spain since thousands took to the streets across the Canary Islands on April 20.
Government officials acknowledged at the time that 30,000 people took part in the protests on Tenerife alone, but protest leaders put the figure at 80,000.
The July 21 date was agreed as a working proposal at a meeting in the town of Manacor in eastern Mallorca about a week ago.
The rally was called by a group called “Menys Turisme, Mes Vida” (“Less Tourism, More Life” in English), which is the organiser of the May 25 Mallorca protests.
