ORGANISERS of the historic anti mass tourism protest in Majorca have apologised for the abuse directed at holidaymakers. Foreign visitors were booed and jeered by some locals among the estimated 15,000 people who joined in Saturday’s demo as they ate evening meals on terraces in the island capital Palma’s Weyler Square. Marchers were also heard chanting ‘Tourists go home’ as they passed through the central square on the 20-minute route from the park where the protest began to iconic street Paseo del Borne.
The banners campaigners carried included one with the offensive message: “Salvem Mallorca, guiris arruix’ which in Catalan Spanish means ‘Let’s save Majorca, foreigners out’. It played on the colloquial Spanish expression Guiri which is used to portray northern European tourists like the British holidaymakers partying in Magaluf , usually in a mildly offensive way. Another placard said in Catalan: “Where you look they’re all guiris.
” The Palma protest was organised by Banc del Temps, a group which hails from the inland Majorcan town of Sencelles and has claimed 25,000 people joined in the demo although government officials have put the figure at around 10,000. Spokesman Javier Barbero said of the targeting of some holidaymakers: “We didn’t want to have a go at tourists and it shouldn’t have happened.” But he added, promising a repeat of Saturday’s action: “This is just the start of things.
“If measures aren’t taken we will continue ta.
