Menorca also says enough to tourism: more than 800 people demonstrate against massification

PalmaMore than 800 people gathered on Friday evening in the Plaça de la Catedral in Ciutadella to denounce the tourist saturation that Menorca is suffering. The call, promoted by the Via Menorca platform, brought together citizens from different parts of the island for a popular, protest-oriented dinner.

The participants brought their own tables and chairs to the square to join an initiative that is part of the mobilization campaign that the platform is developing this summer. Attendance exceeded initial expectations, to the point that the materials provided by the City Council and the organization were insufficient to serve all attendees.

During the event, the two giant ants that star in Via Menorca's protest actions paraded through the square among the participants. A proclamation was also read, focusing on the four main demands of the campaign: access to housing, tourist saturation, precarious labor, and the depletion of aquifers.

The protest also included the presence of Madó Farta, the character who has become one of the symbols of the mobilizations against tourist saturation in Mallorca, and also several members of the GOB from the neighboring island.

A "bingo" against saturation

Once dinner was over, the participants received cards similar to bingo cards to participate in what the organization has dubbed the saturation game, a proposal designed to analyze and publicize the main problems denounced by the campaign.

Via Menorca warns of an 80% increase in tourist volume in the last 15 years and denounces the growing difficulties in accessing housing. According to the data disseminated by the platform, 98% of the homes currently put up for sale have a price that it considers "impossible" for the resident population.

The issue of water is another of the axes of the protest. The platform denounces that the water levels in the wells are not recovering due to the "brutal" extractions that occur during the summer months. To this situation, it adds the progressive loss of per capita income of the resident population.

After the response obtained in Ciutadella, Via Menorca assures that it has gained "new energy" to continue with the mobilizations. The platform warns that it will maintain protests if it considers that the institutions are not defending the general interest against the effects of tourism growth.