The Menys Turisme Més Vida platform, who organised the protest in Palma on Sunday for an end to touristification and for a decent life, issued a statement on Monday which insisted: "Let them be clear. We will not stop. This fight does not end here. We will not allow one more measure of tourism growth, nor one more attack on our language and culture, on migrants, on the territory, or on the working class. In the face of any backward step, they will find an organized people! We were there for many reasons: for housing, for the defence of the territory, for climate justice, for labour dignity, for culture, and for life. Yesterday, the people spoke clearly."
The protesters say the Balearic Government has chosen to ignore their demands and, faced with growing concern over the intensity of citizen discontent, has designed "image-washing campaigns" pretending to contain tourism. They believe it is a mistake for the government to maintain its commitment to tourism as the sole economic driver without accepting economic diversification or a decrease in tourism. "This response is irresponsible and dangerous."
The government is, moreover, ignoring the growing public discontent, "exacerbating the structural problems and leading us to collapse". They denounce the role of the Partido Popular, "subject to the denialist impositions of Vox", in failing to even adopt "minimal-scope" initiatives such as increasing the tourist tax or imposing a tax on hire cars. "A government that prefers to shield the interests of tourism capital over the basic needs of its citizens discredits itself before the public and the world."
They go on to say that the Spanish Government's delegation in the Balearics prioritised "the defence of tourism capital" with the police deployment in front of estate agencies and restaurants. This resulted in the details of at least two people having been taken by the police. "We give our support to the people who expressed their outrage with peaceful protests but who they want to criminalise. We will not stop mobilising and, in the face of any form of repression, we will respond collectively, because that is not violence. What happened on the terraces in the Born area was nothing more than a demonstration of the citizens' desperation over the violence of tourism monoculture on our lives."
Scenes by terraces on the Born were not violence, as violence is living in caravans, the workloads in the hospitality industry, the lack of healthcare personnel, not making ends meet, the price of housing, the fact that holiday rentals take away housing from residents, the constant fights between drunken tourists, the pollution from mega-cruise ships, a city designed for tourists, or finding signs in German and English instead of Catalan. "Violence is having to stay in our homes because tourists occupy everything."