Anti-tourism protesters warn they plan to collapse Mallorca next month with historic turnout

Anti-tourism protesters have warned they are planning to collapse a British holiday hotspot next month.

They staged a mini-demonstration outside Palma Cathedral yesterday as they announced their intention to take to the streets of the Mallorcan capital and said they were confident of an “historic turnout”.

The new demo has been planned for 7pm on July 26 - just over a year after 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.

Next month’s protest is being organised by Menys Turisme Mes Vida, which in English translates as Less Tourism More Life.

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

Announcing its plan for a fresh protest, a fortnight before the August 12 solar eclipse which is expected to attract thousands more people than normal to the Balearic Islands, the group said: “Majorca 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 July 26 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 first anti-tourist demo in the Balearic Islands this year will take place this Saturday - in Menorca which is hugely popular with British tourists.

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 Majorca, 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.

Yesterday it was reported Spaniards in the Canary Islands had stepped up their war on holidaymakers by gluing shut Airbnb key boxes.

Brits were also warned about activists using fake police tape to cordon off popular beauty spots like beach access paths to trick tourists into thinking they are closed.