MORE than 15,000 protestors have taken to the streets of Malaga in the latest anti mass-tourism demo in Spain.
Locals in the sunny destination have been demanding the end of “touristification” for months now as they rage “drunken” Brits are ruining their hometowns.
ReutersPeople took part in another demonstration against mass tourism on Saturday[/caption]
AFPMany protesters walked the streets with handmade signs and banners[/caption]
Marchers took to the streets of Malaga on Saturday with banners covered in scrawlings.
One read: “We feel strangers in our own city,” while another fumed: “Malaga is for the people of Malaga, tourism forces us out”.
As many locals continue to feel pushed out, one sign said: “One more tourist is one less local resident.”
The demo was organised by the Malaga Tenants Union, with the backing of nearly 50 organisations including Greenpeace and Oxfam.
The slow walk through Malaga town centre on Saturday finished in emblematic Constitution Square.
Protest organisers said: “We’re not going to allow ourselves to be expelled from our own city. We’re staying put.
“We’re not going to allow Malaga to become a theme park emptied of local residents.
“We’re not going to allow shops to be replaced by franchises, pavements with terraces and rents with eviction letters.”
Santiago Perez, 67, who attended the march, said: “I’m not against tourism but I want it to be regulated so we have quality tourism and not the drunken type of tourism the holiday rentals attract.”
The protest comes after frustrated locals claim they’re being priced out of their own neighbourhoods – with more properties being converted into hotels and tourist rentals.
Post-pandemic, a large number of remote workers have been moving to Spain for a cheaper cost of living, The Local reports.
And expats are often earning higher wages than locals – leaving them struggling to compete.
Furious demonstrators said the city has become “unlivable”.
Dani Drunko, a bar owner in Malaga who was kicked out of his decade-old home to make room for tourists, said: “Malaga city centre has been going downhill for a long time.
“If something in my bar breaks, I don’t have a hardware store to buy anything [because] the tourists don’t need to buy screws.”