Majorca protesters left looking stupid as locals who love tourists sabotage huge march

British tourists visiting Mallorca for their holidays have been defended during a massive protest march in the island's capital.

Police and the Balearic government confirmed this evening that around 10,000 protestors took to the streets of Palma from 7pm to demonstrate about mass tourism and its effects on their homes and livelihoods.

During a one-hour march, they displayed numerous banners, making it very clear that they were not happy with the number of holidaymakers, including Brits, who pour into Mallorca each year.

They carried hundreds of placards and banners, telling tourists to go home and that they were not welcome on the island. They even mocked England football stars following their loss to Spain in the final of the Euros on July 14.

Government officials had warned the campaigners to watch their behaviour so that repeats of scenes in Barcelona, when tourists were sprayed with water in toy guns, would not be seen in Mallorca.

Two hours into the protest, they have been no arrests for reports of any confrontations. However, a group of residents, mainly from Palma itself, have tried to turn the tables on the protestors by showing they are in support of tourists.

They sabotaged the campaigners' banners by slapping them with their own stickers, saying that holidaymakers were welcome in Mallorca and the other Balearic islands of Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera.

"Why bite the hand that feeds you? " they asked.

This was Palma's second major demonstration this year against tourist saturation under the slogan 'Canviem el rumb. Posem límits al turisme', and organised by the same group "Menys Turisme, Més Vida"

To avoid any trouble, the police roped off the open-air terraces of bars and restaurants along the route so there could be no confrontations. Other businesses took matters into their own hands by closing their terraces themselves.

Holidaymakers seemed to take all the protests in their stride, however, and even took photos of the march and approached campaigners to ask what was going on.

One of them asked: "What are you complaining about? Without tourism, you would die of hunger."

The pro-tourist campaigners, said to have gone "under-cover" during the protest, handed out cards to holidaymakers, saying "We love you!"

The welovetourismmallorca.com platform is made up of individuals who say they do not share the "hostility that has been unleashed against tourists. Especially because we must not forget that Mallorcans have been living from tourism for a long time."

For the moment, the members of this group prefer not to reveal their identities, but they appeal "to common sense" and warn: "It makes no sense for us to bite the hand that feeds us."

On their website, they indicate that "From WeLoveTourismMallorca we understand that Mallorca is facing a problem of saturation but we firmly believe that it is not only the responsibility of tourists nor the solution is to close the entrance to our island.@

"The situation is complex and many variables come into play, so we cannot demonise only tourism, which is also the main engine of the economy of our islands. It would be useful to analyse more parameters and take into account other perspectives. That is why we want to send a message of support and affection to all our visitors in the face of the demonstrations of the last few days".

The proposals they make are the following: "We want to find solutions and we propose to society that they share their opinions and suggestions on how to address these problems. Together we can find the path to a better future for all. We invite anyone who wants to write proposals in this form so that we can send them to a negotiating table. All the ideas contributed will be delivered to the dialogue table that is being organised by the Balearic Government. This is an initiative of civil society, without any type of political link."

Spokesman for the platform 'Menys turisme, més vida', Pere Joan Femenia, in statements to the media, said: "The objective of this Sunday's demonstration is to change course because the population is fed up with an economic model that does not take into account the problems it generates in residents. We have been demonstrating and taking action against the tourism model for years."

"It is now, after more than two years of tourist records, that the population has said enough, that it wants to put an end to this growth and concrete measures to limit and decrease the number of tourists who come to the island, as well as improve the well-being of the local population," he stressed.

The main measures demanded by citizens "are focused on decreasing the number of tourists, regulating and limiting the entry of cruise ships and planes arriving in the Balearic Islands, putting a moratorium, decreasing the number of tourist places on the island, controlling the purchase and sale of non-residents and the entry of rental cars that access the Balearic Islands, and to carry out a study of carrying capacity, in accordance with the capacity of the islands to accommodate an increasingly unsustainable mass of population".