The contradiction of the Vaults: closed entrances with 500 protesters and 3,200 people at a concert three days later

PalmaLes Voltes gathered 3,200 people this Wednesday evening during the event day of the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest. Three days earlier, the National Police had closed access to the same venue when there were only just over 500 participants in the demonstration against tourist overcrowding. The difference has raised questions because the closing of the gates was, according to the protest organizers, the origin of the tension that led to the police charges.

The organization Més Turisme, Més Vida had been informed that Les Voltes could accommodate a maximum of 2,000 people for the reading of the manifesto and the performances planned at the end of the mobilization. This figure, however, was not reached. Access was definitively barred when there were just over 500 attendees inside and no one else was allowed in.

A photograph taken at 8:50 p.m. still showed large free areas in the lower part of the venue. Meanwhile, hundreds of demonstrators remained concentrated in the Parc de la Mar without being able to access the space where the mobilization was to end.

Three days later, Les Voltes presented a radically different image. On Wednesday, Atlàntida held two concerts there and screened a film in front of about 3,200 people, as confirmed by festival sources to ARA Balears. The event had an authorized capacity of 3,500 attendees, even though the stage, bars, and other technical installations reduced the available space for the public.

The capacity granted to Atlàntida was, therefore, 1,500 more people than for the reading of the manifesto by Menys Turisme, Més Vida to conclude the demonstration. Furthermore, while the festival managed to occupy almost all of the authorized capacity, on Sunday the National Police closed the access points when Ses Voltes was still very far from the permitted 2,000 people.

Menys Turisme, Més Vida has denounced this difference on social media. "Today, the National Police with batons has not been seen at the entrances to Ses Voltes. There are many more people than on Sunday and there is no longer any risk?", the platform has posed, asking why the capacity was different "for a festival than for a demonstration" and demanding an explanation of the criteria applied.

According to the organizers, the early closure of the gates was the element that triggered the moments of tension at the end of a demonstration that had, until then, unfolded peacefully. The National Police also prevented access to the space located under Dalt Murada by means of a cordon of agents and blocked the way to the terrace of La Seu, from where the demonstrators could have followed the reading of the manifesto.

Sources from the Spanish Government Delegation have confirmed to ARA Balears that the limit applied to the demonstration responded to "police criteria". For their part, the National Police pointed out that their operation consisted of letting people in "gradually" to avoid the risk of "stampedes". Regarding the capacity of the space, they pointed out that they did not speak of figures "at any time". "The only thing we intended was to control access so that people entered slowly, because 25,000 people do not fit there," police sources told ARA Balears. Regarding police charges, they limited themselves to pointing out that there is an ongoing investigation.