Palma town hall will this week start to organise the removal of the final fifteen anti-tourist graffiti slogans that were sprayed on to the walls of listed buildings in the historic quarter of the city.
Graffiti on privately owned properties is usually the responsibility of the owners. In this instance, however, the town hall has relaxed the regulation and instructed Emaya, the municipal services agency, to take care of the removal of the graffiti. The various slogans have of course attracted a great deal of less than positive media interest in the UK, Germany and elsewhere.
Especially given that their messages stated that tourists were not welcome, residents and business associations as well as tourism authorities had expected that they would have been removed much earlier; it is a month since they appeared. The town hall has explained, however, that permission needs to be sought from the Council of Majorca where listed buildings are concerned. This has slowed the whole process down. The town hall and the Council are now working on the drafting of a new bylaw which will give the city authority greater powers to react - and more quickly - should similar episodes occur.