Traders of Sóller ask that the demonstration against massification be changed: "It will affect commercial activity"

PalmaThe demonstration called by the Moviment Jove de Sóller and the platform Menys Turisme, Més Vida for next Saturday, August 8 arrives surrounded by controversy. After the tensions derived from the multitudinous protest against tourist overcrowding on July 26 in Palma, marked by the charges of the National Police at the end of the route, the controversy has now moved to Sóller. Just over a week before the mobilization, the Association of Merchants of Carrer de la Lluna has requested to modify the itinerary or the schedule of the march for security reasons and the impact it could have on commercial activity, a request that the organizers reject and interpret as an attempt to displace the protest from the main commercial axis of the municipality.

According to various local media reports, the merchants' association has sent a letter to the government delegation warning that the demonstration's passage through Carrer de la Lluna, coinciding with Saturday's weekly market, could cause security problems due to the large number of people. The merchants argue that this is one of the most densely populated pedestrian areas in the municipality and request that the mobilization be diverted or moved to another time to minimize the impact on economic activity and visitors.

The march, authorized by the government delegation, will start at 10 a.m. from Plaça dels Estiradors, will go through Carrer de Santa Teresa and Carrer de la Lluna, and will end in Plaça de la Constitució. The event is promoted by the Young Movement of Sóller and Less Tourism, More Life to denounce the effects of touristification on housing, mobility, local commerce, and the quality of life for residents.

The organizers refuse to modify the route

In response to the merchants' request, the organizers have issued a statement through social networks in which they defend maintaining both the planned route and schedule. They maintain that Carrer de la Lluna is "one of the most representative spaces of Sóller's commercial and social life" and that precisely for this reason it must be part of the mobilization.

The organizers assure that "touristification" also harms local commerce, because the increase in commercial rents and the growing orientation of businesses towards visitors cause the closure of traditional establishments. For this reason, they consider it contradictory to ask for the demonstration to be moved from this street.

In the statement, they emphasize that the protest "arises from the community" that buys from local shops all year round and recall that many residents already avoid walking down Carrer de la Lluna during the summer months due to visitor saturation. They also point out that the demonstration's passage through this section will be limited, lasting approximately one hour, and that the organization will have support and coordination teams with the competent services to ensure the safety of demonstrators, merchants, residents, and visitors.

The controversy over police violence remains alive

The Sóller mobilization comes less than two weeks after the massive demonstration on July 26 in Palma, which brought together tens of thousands of people under the slogan 'Mallorca at its limit'. Although it developed peacefully for more than two hours, the protest ended with clashes with the National Police after the agents blocked the entrance to the venue alleging capacity reasons, a decision that the organizers questioned because they assured that the space was not even half full.

Those events have triggered days of strong political and social controversy. Several protesters and a journalist were injured, the affected are considering taking legal action against the National Police, several parties demand the resignation of the Spanish government's delegate in the Balearic Islands, Alfonso Rodríguez, and hundreds of people gathered in front of the Delegation of the government to denounce what they consider a disproportionate police action. The controversy was also fueled by contradictions about the capacity of the Arches and by subsequent explanations from the National Police and the Government Delegation.

In this context, the organizers of Saturday's protest in Sóller maintain that the mobilization aims to continue the demands against touristification and defend an "habitable" town model in the face of the effects of tourist pressure on housing, local commerce, and the quality of life of residents.