Via Menorca brings together 1,200 people against tourist overcrowding and the housing crisis

MenorcaVia Menorca kicked off the 'N'estam fartes' campaign this past Saturday with a rally in front of the Consell Insular de Menorca. According to GOB Menorca, around 1,200 people gathered in the square to express their discontent with the island's direction and to demand measures regarding the housing crisis, tourist pressure, water management, and the worsening living conditions.

The action's central element was two large iron ants, which arrived at the square to the rhythm of percussion. One was positioned with its back to the Consell building, and the other facing it, an image designed to symbolize two ways of addressing institutions: denouncing the current situation and presenting proposals for change.

Around the figures, attendees formed a large circle and participated in a protest action with speeches and artistic expressions. The platform focused on four major issues considered urgent for Menorca's future: access to housing, water availability, the labor model, and mass tourism.

According to GOB Menorca's account, data on the island's current situation were presented from the ant facing away from the Consell. The organization denounced that the residential market is increasingly strained by an economic model that expels housing from the ordinary market and turns it into a revenue-generating asset. It also warned about the pressure on water resources and recalled that water is a basic right for the resident population.

GOB also linked these problems to a progressive impoverishment of life in Menorca. They argued that while salaries remain stagnant, the cost of living on the island continues to rise, ultimately driving out some of the population who live and work there.

The second ant, facing the Consell, served to present concrete proposals. Via Menorca insisted that alternatives exist to reverse this situation and that what is needed is political will to implement them with technical criteria, rationality, and a future-oriented vision focused on the well-being of the resident population and the island's sustainability.

The event, with a good part of the attendees dressed in black, concluded with a collective cry that marked the start of this new campaign. GOB Menorca proposes 'N'estam fartes' as a tool to forge its own path for Menorca and prevent the island from following the same processes of massification and gentrification that have already been experienced in other territories.