Activists stage anti-tourism protest in Menorca

Balearics

The event, in which participants pretended to be ants crushed by the effects of mass tourism, comes ahead of a larger demonstration planned in Palma on 26 July

Natalia Penza

More than 1,000 people have taken part in Spain’s first major anti-tourist protest of the year on the holiday island of Menorca.

Activists dressed in black and pretending to be ants crushed by the effects of mass tourism took over a central square in the island capital Mahon in front of local government buildings to make their voices heard.

One banner hoisted above the square said: “Fed up with tourism crushing us” against a sketch of a beach parasol.

Another said: “Fed up of being thrown out of our homes.”

Protesters sat round the giant ants chanted over and over “Fartes” - ‘Fed Up’ in English - as others beat makeshift drums.

Organisers GOB Menorca said 1,200 people had taken part in the protest, staged six weeks ahead of a much larger one planned for the Mallorca capital Palma on 26 July which locals say could have a “historic turnout” and “collapse” the holiday hotspot.

The group which led Saturday evening's action said: “1,200 people gathered in front of the Menorca Island Council HQ to say ‘We Are Fed Up.'

“We were there with the conviction that things can change, with the joy of knowing that many of us are willing to defend this land, with the awareness of the strength that collective struggles sustained over time can come to have.”

"Fed up"

In a longer subsequent statement, GOB Menorca said of its Via Menorca campaign protesting against tourist overcrowding, real estate speculation and environment degradation under the slogan ‘Esteim Fartes’, English for ‘We Are Fed Up’: “The main event of the day featured two large iron ants that burst onto the square to the beat of the drums, in an almost processional entrance.

“Positioned in front of the island government building, one of them turned its back while the other faced it head-on, symbolising two complementary ways of challenging the institutions.

“The event brought the attendees together in a large circle around the ants, from where a protest ritual unfolded, focusing on the main problems facing Menorca: the housing crisis, water management, the labour model and tourist overcrowding.

“Various artistic expressions joined the call to denounce that these issues, essential to life on the island, are in a critical situation.”

Political solutions

Claiming living conditions were deteriorating in Menorca, which was owned by Britain for most of the 18th century, and people born there were being gradually driven out because of stagnant wages and price escalation, the GOB spokesman added: “Solutions do exist and only political will is needed to implement them, using technical criteria, rationality, and a shared vision for the future that guarantees the well-being of the resident population and the sustainability of the island.”

Speaking at the event, one activist complained: “The island council spends 20,000 euros a day on tourist promotion but its records are our suffocation.

“Success cannot be measured by the number of visits while forgetting the conditions in which residents live.”

One supporter reacted online by saying: “It’s a shame this wasn’t done more or four or five years ago which is when more tourist accommodation was being created.”

Another commented: “You can’t change the past but you can try to change the future.”

The proposals GOB Menorca have put forward include a limit on the number of tourist cars entering the Balearic island, a legal cap on tourist accommodation places, an increase in VAT on tourist accommodation, and a ban on short-term lets in villages.

GOB member Oriol Radalga told local press, warning this protest would not be the last if the current situation was properly addressed: “You only have to look at this packed square to understand how people are feeling.

“Preserving the Menorca we want is a fairly simple matter, but not one that is easy for everyone to understand.”

The protest in Palma has been planned for 7pm on 26 July.

"At its limit"

Last Sunday organisers Menys Turisme Mes Vida, which in English translates as ‘Less Tourism More Life’ staged a mini-demonstration outside Palma Cathedral as they announced their intention to take to the streets of the Mallorca capital and said they were confident of an “historic turnout”.

Announcing its plan for a fresh protest, a fortnight before the 12 August solar eclipse which is expected to attract thousands more people than normal to the Balearic Islands, the group said: “Mallorca is at its limit.”

Spokesman David Comas said: “We can’t cope with more tourists.”

He said his island had been turned into a “theme park” where it was now “impossible” for young people like him to “become independent and manage to obtain decent housing.”

Sources said the 26 July date had been picked so smaller protests which haven’t yet been fully publicised could take place in the weeks leading up to the main march.

The Canary Islands and the Balearics have been at the forefront of anti-tourist protests over the past two years, although they have also taken place in cities like Barcelona and Malaga.

Some foreign tourists have faced abuse during marches and protest actions in places like Mallorca, where in May 2024 booing and jeering of some holidaymakers as they ate evening meals in a square in the island capital Palma led to organisers making a public apology.

An estimated 15,000 people took part in that demo, a day after around 1,000 people massed outside Ibiza council’s HQ to vent their anger over the effects of mass tourism.

In June last year thousands marched in Palma on a day which ended with around 100 noisy activists banging drums surrounding upmarket eatery Cappuccino Borne next to a McDonald’s in the city centre after their protest finished. Police had to move in to disperse them.

Ahead of last June’s march, group activists held up a sightseeing bus.

Graffiti

Last week it emerged anti-tourist protesters had started to graffiti Mallorca’s roads ahead of next month’s demo in Palma.

Messages saying ‘Stop Tourism SOS’ have been painted onto the tarmac on the Ma-10 road between the towns of Deia and Soller which activists say suffer from over-tourism.

They are said to have appeared in the last few days near Llucalcari, a coastal hamlet in Mallorca’s Tramuntana mountain region which is popular with cyclists and walkers.

It is not clear who is responsible.

In February last year one of Spain’s famous Osborne billboard bulls was daubed with anti-foreign graffiti alluding to wealthy outsiders owning holiday homes as colonialists who should "go to hell".

The roadside silhouette symbol in Mallorca had the words "Rich foreign property buyers go to hell" scrawled on it in red capped-up letters in English.

SOS Residents, the protest group which flagged up the vandalism linked to the so-called ‘tourism-phobia’ which has seen huge demos take place around Spain in 2024 and 2025 in places like the Balearics and Canary Islands over issues including the lack of affordable housing, said at the time: “This morning has given us a nice surprise.”