Thousands of Canary Islanders took to the streets of the Atlantic archipelago today to protest against the problems caused by mass tourism and demand their politicians take action.
Demonstrators packed into Weyler Square in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz, the start point for a march on the Brit-popular holiday island, just before midday with banners including one that said: ‘You enjoy we suffer’ in English.
Others said: ‘Where is the money from tourism?’ and ‘Tourist moratorium now.’
They waved Canary Islands’ flags and blew vuvuzelas to make a deafening noise.
Protests also got underway at the same time in the other islands in the archipelago, including Lanzarote and Gran Canaria, with support demos scheduled for the Spanish mainland in cities like Malaga and Madrid as well as London and Berlin.
The Canary Islands protests were organised under the slogan ‘Canarias Tiene Un Limite’ which in English translates as ‘The Canary Islands have a limit.’
Demonstrators packed into Weyler Square in the Tenerife capital Santa Cruz, the start point for a march on the Brit-popular holiday island
A woman raises her fist as she pounds the streets in protest against the levels of tourism in the holiday-isles
Canary Islanders took to the streets of the Atlantic archipelago today to protest against the problems caused by mass tourism
The huge crowd massed just before midday with banners including one that said: ‘You enjoy we suffer’ in English
The backdrop to the demos is an ongoing hunger strike six men and women began on April 11 outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna
Official sources put the number of demonstrators in Tenerife at midday at around 10,000 people
One proposed project involves the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s last virgin beaches
Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month
At the beginning of this week a picture was published in local press showing the words ‘Go Home’ on a hire car in Tenerife
The backdrop to the demos is an ongoing hunger strike six men and women began on April 11 outside a church in the northern Tenerife town of La Laguna.
Speaking ahead of the start of today’s demonstrations, a spokesman for protest platform Canarias Se Agota which the hunger strikers are affiliated to, said: ‘Today, April 20, marks the 10th day of the hunger strike.
‘Today we cannot forget these people who are putting their lives at risk for our Earth.
‘Their determination inspires, their bravery moves us, their sacrifice reminds us that this struggle is everyone’s and for everyone.
‘We are writing a new chapter in the history of our islands, a chapter marked by the unwavering perseverance of those who bravely defend our home.
‘Today the Canary Islands will scream and fight, and tomorrow it will continue to do so.’
Campaigners have been quick to distance themselves from anti-tourist graffiti which appeared on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month.
At the beginning of this week a picture was published in local press showing the words ‘Go Home’ on a hire car in Tenerife.
The protests in the Canary Islands are mostly taking place away from the main tourist areas, which in Tenerife and Gran Canaria are in the south of the islands
Protest groups including Canarias Se Agota, which in English translates literally as ‘The Canary Islands are Exhausted’, want the authorities to paralyse two tourist projects
The Canary Islands protests were organised under the slogan ‘Canarias Tiene Un Limite’ which in English translates as ‘The Canary Islands have a limit’
The estimate for how many people attended had increased to 15,000 by 1pm local time with some predictions it could end up surpassing the 50,000 mark
The islands are threatened by sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets
Other demands include the protection of natural spaces, a tourist tax and better working conditions for hotel cleaners
Protest groups including Canarias Se Agota, which in English translates literally as ‘The Canary Islands are Exhausted’, want the authorities to paralyse two tourist projects including one which involves the construction of a five-star hotel by one of Tenerife’s last virgin beaches.
They are also seeking a commitment from regional politicians to change the tourist model and protect islands like Tenerife from the worst excesses of mass tourism, including sea pollution, traffic gridlock and lack of cheap affordable housing linked to the pushing-up of property prices because of Airbnb-style holiday lets.
Other demands include the protection of natural spaces, a tourist tax and better working conditions for hotel cleaners, who joined today’s protest in Santa Cruz as they insisted to local press: ‘We are not slaves.’
Official sources put the number of demonstrators in Tenerife at midday at around 10,000 people, although that estimate had increased to 15,000 by 1pm local time with some predictions it could end up surpassing the 50,000 mark.
An estimated 1,000 people started the protest march that began just after midday today from a park in Lanzarote’s capital Arrecife.
Many more subsequently joined it and some local reports put the number of demonstrators at ‘at least’ 5,000 by the time it reached a city beach called Playa El Reducto.
In the Gran Canaria capital Las Palmas, marchers carried banners in Spanish which said: ‘It’s not phobia, it’s love for my land.’
A woman protestor held up another which said: ‘Fourteen million tourists a year but 36 per cent of Canarians at risk of poverty.’
Protesters waved Canary Islands’ flags and blew vuvuzelas to make a deafening noise
Graffiti in Tenerife tells tourists to go home amid a spate of anti-Brit graffiti in the holiday isles
Another piece of graffiti across a bench urges holidaymakers to stay away from stunning spot
One of the other banners exhibited by protestors said: ‘The Canary Islands government is an estate agency’
Another said: ‘With so much Airbnb where are we going to live.’
More than 1,000 people were said to have joined the protest march in Fuerteventura by just after midday local time.
Protestor Xiomara Cruz, who took part in the march in Gran Canaria, said ahead of its start: ‘They made us believe that in the Canary Islands we live from tourism and what we want is the right of islanders to live in their land.’
She called the protests a ‘rallying cry from a population tired of seeing how our islands are being destroyed.’
Paula Rincon told local press: ‘It pains me that Canarians cannot afford to live in their own neighbourhoods.’
Insisting the current tourism model led to ‘more people paying lower prices and badly-built hotels that destroyed beaches and protected areas’ she added: ‘I don’t know why we aspire to so many numbers when this doesn’t filter down to the rest of the population.
‘The current system doesn’t benefit us, it impoverishes us.’
An estimated 1,000 people started the protest march that began just after midday today from a park in Lanzarote’s capital Arrecife
Protesters are seeking a commitment from regional politicians to change the tourist model and protect islands like Tenerife
Many more subsequently joined it and some local reports put the number of demonstrators at ‘at least’ 5,000 by the time it reached a city beach called Playa El Reducto
The protests in the Canary Islands are mostly taking place away from the main tourist areas, which in Tenerife and Gran Canaria are in the south of the islands.
Some British holidaymakers have shown their support for the issues raised by the islanders but others have accused them of biting the hand that feeds them.
The Canary Islands’ tourism minister Jessica de Leon urged British holidaymakers not to cancel their holidays ahead of today’s demos.
Canary Islands regional president Fernando Clavijo initially admitted he was worried tourists might be put off coming to the area, before softening his message last week and describing the April 20 protests as an opportunity to ‘revise’ the current tourism model.
Jorge Marichal, president of regional hotel association ASHOTEL, has claimed tourists were ringing establishments to ask whether it was safe to come.
He has also insisted ‘non-regulated’ holiday lets are a big problem and the reason there is less control than there should be on the numbers of tourists in places like Tenerife.
Messages in English left on walls and benches in and around Palm Mar in southern Tenerife at the start of the month included ‘My misery your paradise’ and ‘Average salary in Canary Islands is 1,200 euros.’
In an apparent UK backlash, a response left in English on a wall next to a ‘Tourists go home’ message said: ‘F*** off, we pay your wages.’
Protest platform Canarias Se Agota has insisted it has nothing to do with the graffiti that has appeared in parts of Tenerife over recent weeks – and has accused regional politicians of blaming them of tourism-phobia as part of a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign.
