Thousands of people They toured the main tourist areas of the Canary Islands this Sunday to protest the “excesses” of tourism, overcrowding, the tension in the housing market and the perception that nothing has changed, according to the organizers.
Under the motto “The Canary Islands have a limit”, and six months after the last demonstration massive the past April 20the mobilizations have taken place, in the case of Tenerife and Gran Canariain Playa de las Américas and Maspalomas, epicenters of the tourism sector for decades and where thousands of people have marched to the rhythm of slogans such as “The Canary Islands are not for sale”, “Marichal, start cleaning” or “Canarian Coalition is a real estate agency”.
In Playa de las Américas, some 6,500 peopleaccording to the Government Delegationhave attended the march, which has passed along the promenade, packed with visitors who were enjoying a day at the beach.
There, the protests, which at one point have developed in the same arena and among tourists, have revolved around the lack of decision-making aimed at making effective the claims on April 20, mainly a tourism moratorium.
At the end of the tour, the organizers read a manifesto in which they denounced this lack of action and which they have exemplified as the “false ecotax” of the Tenerife Councilwhich was limited to charging for access to a trail.
“For decades they have sold us the story that the Canary Islands lives off tourism and they have tried to convince us that it is not a model that impoverishes many of us. This tourism model does not work. With more than 18 million visitors a year “Our quality of life is deteriorating by leaps and bounds, with lower salaries, more expensive shopping baskets and impossible access to housing thanks to the proliferation of holiday homes and this model,” they denounced.
In Gran Canariathe protest has taken place between the hotels of Meloneras, to finish at the Maspalomas lighthouse, where some 1,500 people according to the Government Delegation and 5,000 According to the organizers, they have chanted slogans such as “Clavijo, listen, Canary Islands in the fight”, “Government, pay attention, people already live here”, “We are going to stop this nonsense” or “It’s not tourism, it’s colonialism.”
While all this was happening, the few tourists who witnessed the march, at a time when they are usually on the beach or in their hotels, watched without understanding what was happening and many of them recorded the march with their mobile phones. At the same time, the protesters intensified their shouts and whistles as they passed through the large hotels of Meloneras.
Before starting the protest, Eugenio Reyes, spokesperson for Ben Magec and of 20-O in Gran Canaria, explained in statements to the media that what was intended today was not a massive demonstration, but rather a “target” in the heart of tourism in the Canary Islands, to denounce that in the six months that have passed since the first authorized in the islands more than 30 new urban projects.
For Reyes, it is “regrettable” that after six months There has been no official contact nor has an observatory or any space been created for civil society to listen to citizens, “who have concrete proposals,” he said.
On the rest of the islands, the demonstrations have taken place on the Puerto del Carmen promenade, in Lanzarotewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 peopleaccording to data from the police authorities, have marched since the Nations Square to the Farione Hotel.
Also in Fuerteventura The protest has advanced from the water park of Corralejo and along the main street of this town, with just over half a thousand people who shouted proclamations such as “Canarias is not for sale, it is loved and defended” and who, at one point, walked along the beach and the terraces, where They also coincided with tourists who were watching and recording the protest.
In The Palmthe demonstration has crossed The Plains of Aridaneafter leaving Calvario Street, crossing Real Street and arriving at the Plaza de España. Over there, Pablo Diazspokesperson for The Canary Islands have a limit has expressed the particularities of the island in its demands, and has advocated not repeating the same “mass model that has failed on the rest of the islands.”
Also in front of Council of El Hierroon Doctor Quintero Street, fifty people have gathered.
All the demonstrations have passed without notable incidents, although in the one in Maspalomas one person has been arrested.
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