Vandals have covered hundreds of sunbeds on two popular Tenerife beaches with anti-tourist graffiti as part of an ongoing campaign against holidaymakers.
More than 230 sunbeds on the beaches of Las Vistas and El Camisón, both in the south of the island, were destroyed in the early hours of Thursday morning, local media reported.
Protesters scrawled anti-tourism slogans, including “Canarias se defiende” (The Canary Islands defend themselves) and “Canarias no se vende” (The Canary Islands are not for sale).
Local officials said they were shocked by the scenes.
Fátima Lemes, the mayor of the municipality of Arona, where the vandals struck, said the graffiti was “an attack on the heritage of Arona” that harms both residents and visitors.
“The people of Arona are very conscious of protecting our environment, but unfortunately there are always exceptions that threaten the common good, which amounts to attacking us all,” she added angrily.
The destruction follows a bitter wave of anti-tourism protests that swept Spain during the summer and autumn months.
In October, about a thousand demonstrators took to the streets in the Basque city of San Sebastian for a new Spanish protest against mass tourism.
Local officials said they were shocked by the scenes
Graffiti telling tourists to ‘go home’ has appeared in the Canary Islands
Noisy protesters stormed a Tenerife beach in October during another march against mass tourism, as shocked holidaymakers sunbathing under blue skies looked on
Activists walked behind a banner that read in Basque and Spanish: “Tourism is now declining.”
A spokesperson for organizer BiziLagunEkin, referring to claims by politicians and hotel bosses, as well as many ordinary Spaniards and British holidaymakers, that the protests threaten to damage the country’s economic prosperity, said: ‘Tourism, which is the goose that for a few is the golden lays eggs, is for the majority an economic model that suffocates us.
“We say the city model is designed to favor the tourism industry and that means living conditions for residents are getting worse and worse.”
British holidaymakers launched a response against anti-tourism locals in Tenerife who told them to ‘go home’ on the same day of protests in San Sebastian.
Despite calls to return home, the British were seen on the beach completely unfazed.
One person was seen casually checking his phone, while another flashed a peace sign at a camera trying to film him.
Amazing footage showed holidaymakers surrounded and trapped by Spanish people as they sunbathed in swimming shorts and bikinis.
Locals could be heard shouting “No hay camas pa’ tanto guiri” – which would translate into English as “There are not enough beds for so many foreigners.”
More than 230 sunbeds on the beaches of Las Vistas and El Camisón, both in the south of the island, were destroyed
This couple was enjoying a day out at the beach when rowdy protesters took over
Holidaymakers have been targeted by a gang of sign-wielding locals furious at the current tourism model
One woman carried a cardboard poster that read: “Tourists, go home.”
Other posters carried by protesters read: “Enjoying a day at your pool? That water could go to food’, but also to ‘Macrotourism is destroying the Canary Islands’ and ‘The Canary Islands have a limit. More trees, fewer hotels.’
Another said in Spanish: ‘The Canary Islands do not live from tourism. Tourism lives off the Canary Islands.’
One couple, whose nationality is not known, were filmed lying trapped on their beach towels in their swimsuits, surrounded on all sides by protesters making noise and waving banners.
Other holidaymakers were seen leaving the area as they saw the beach overwhelmed by the unexpected visitors.