Saturday's protest against the housing situation in Mallorca attracted fewer people than the demonstration in May last year. On that occasion, according to the organisers, there were 25,000 people. This year there were 12,000. The Spanish Government's delegation in the Balearics, which authorises protests, put Saturday's figure at 3,000; it reported 15,000 last May.
Carme Reynés, spokesperson for the Banc de Temps collective, one of the organising groups, accepts the number was down. She attributes this to people becoming demoralised. Far from the housing situation improving, it is getting worse. The housing emergency, she believes, is reaching unsustainable levels, and accessing housing, be this to rent or to buy, is becoming increasingly difficult.
Reynés says that Mallorcans are being expelled from the island, as they have no choice but to move to other regions of Spain to find a home. "More and more people are having to leave. Housing prices are unaffordable for workers." The middle class is being affected in a way that it hasn't previously been.
In her view, the Balearic Government's housing policy is not yielding results, and she is demanding the adoption of measures, which she believes could be more effective. One of these is the declaration of the Balearics as a stressed area, with the aim of limiting rental prices. (The government has rejected this.) Another is that homes cannot be purchased without having resided on the islands for at least five years.
But she is pessimistic that anything will be done and wonders who will be left in Mallorca in ten years' time.