Mallorcan tourists have been told to ‘go home’ by their neighbours in upmarket Minorca after thousands of them visited for a festival at the weekend.
The residents of Mallorca, where ironically a series of protests have been held against British and other foreign tourists, got a taste of their own medicine yesterday when around 20,000 people made the short ferry journey to Minorca.
The island-hoppers were greeted by Minorcans wearing tee-shirts emblazoned with ‘Mallorquins [the Spanish name for the island’s inhabitants] Go Home’ and others saying ‘Catalans [Catalonia is the nearest part of mainland Spain] Go Home.’
The protest came as a video emerged in a local newspaper showing Mallorcans ‘balconing’ in Minorca, the dangerous craze of leaping from hotel balconies into swimming pools which has killed and injured many young British tourists in recent years.
The Mallorcans visited Minorca for the annual Festival of St John the Baptist in the mediaeval port of Ciutadella, which attracted thousands of people.
As well as the teeshirts, protesters from an organisation called Salvem Sant Joan (Save St John) hung a huge banner saying ‘Saint John is not a business, it is a feeling. Enough overcrowding.’
The highlight of the festival is the Caragol del Born, when more than 100 elegantly-suited enter the huge Plaça des Born and ride among the crowd, rearing up on their hind legs to symbolise power and nobility.
In yesterday’s event, one person was injured, which is not uncommon in the overcrowded square, especially as revellers traditionally try to slap the horses’ rumps as they pass.
Earlier, a resident in the Minorcan resort of Cala en Blanes filmed young Mallorcan tourists leaping from the balcony of a holiday chalet into the pool below, reported Ultima Hora.
She told the newspaper the youths were around 15 or 16 years old and she called police, who told her they were powerless as the villa was private property.
She also tried herself to dissuade them from jumping but was unable to do so and expressed her fear that the situation would ‘get out of hand’ if the authorities did not act.
The latest incidents come after the Mayor of Magaluf pledged a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to drunken behaviour by Brits or other tourists, but welcomed them if they behaved.
Anti-tourist protests have been held in Mallorca by locals frustrated at being priced out of the property market and fed up of overcrowded resorts and beaches.
Joan Antonio Amengual, Mayor of the Calvia district, incorporating Magaluf, told in an exclusive interview: ‘In your country, you cannot urinate in the street, walk around with alcohol, drinking as if there is no tomorrow or being half naked, and the message is that it’s the same here.
‘Of course, all tourists are welcome to Majorca, but we are asking them to behave like they do at home.
‘Take care of our people and the environment. Tourists have been coming to Mallorca for the last 60 years.
‘It’s our main industry, and we want to serve and to give our best face to the tourists. And the tourists will be always welcome to Majorca.’
But he stressed that the island prefers ‘quality to quantity’ when it comes to tourists, hinting that, in line with most Spaniards, they would prefer to host well-behaved families with children rather than marauding groups of stag- and hen-parties who have earned the resort the nickname of ‘Sh*galuf’.
‘The street is not a bar,’ he said. ‘If you want to drink, you go to a bar, not the street.’