Thousands of people in the Spanish city of Malaga protested on Saturday against mass tourism, angered by high rents and housing shortages.
They marched in the center of the southern city, many carrying signs saying: “Málaga is not for sale” and “This is not tourism, this is an invasion”.
About 25,000 people took part in the demonstration, organizers said, although the newspaper El País reported that 15,000 attended.
The city is the latest in Spain to see such protests, after similar demonstrations against the excesses of tourism were held in other locations popular with tourists, including Mallorca, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
The demonstration in Malaga was one of the largest the city has seen in recent times, according to several Spanish media reports.
The protest was called by a tenants association, Sindicato de Inquilinos e Inquilinas, which said that the increasing number of visitors and holiday apartments are the reason for the housing shortage and other problems in the city.
“The city is suffering, resentment is great. Above all, the housing problem had to be put on the table,” said the organizers’ spokesperson, Curro Machuca, according to El País.
Málaga has more than 12,000 legally registered holiday homes, more than any other Spanish city besides Madrid and Barcelona. Furthermore, many private holiday homes in Malaga and elsewhere are operated illegally.
“The situation is unsustainable. It’s impossible to buy a house,” protester María Franco told El País.
Engineer Sonia Raya told the newspaper that she recently saw a windowless garage in Malaga that was being offered as an apartment for a monthly rent of 600 euros ($642).
