Yzabelle Bostyn
AN independent group of anti-tourism protestors in Soller have been accused of ‘racism’ after calling tourists ‘guiris’.
It comes after the 50-strong group hung t-shirts with the slogan ‘wherever you look, they’re all guiris’ in the Plaza de la Constitucion.
A flash protest, the t-shirts seemed to appear out of nowhere yesterday, showing an image of a sweating tourist holding an ice cream and suitcase.
The phrase, ‘miris on miris, tot son guiris’ in Catalan, has gained traction in the anti-tourism movement across the Balearics and Catalunya to highlight the massification of local neighbourhoods.
Despite some foreign residents approaching protestors and accusing them of ‘racism’, they have defended their actions in an open letter.
They said: “We’re trying to make people aware of how much this problem affects us day to day, with a little bit of provocation: we don’t want to leave Soller, we want to live here with dignity.”
“We have nothing against the tourists, we just want to survive. Mass tourism is kicking us out of our homes. It makes it harder to find affordable housing, moves us away from our public spaces, collapses our basic services and makes our daily lives unrecognisable.”
