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PROTESTS

LATEST: Spanish farmers to continue protests throughout February

As the Spanish farmers' protests move into their second week, the organisation fronting the demonstrations has demanded the resignation of Spain's interior minister and threatened to take legal action against the police.

Published: 12 February 2024 16:36 CET
LATEST: Spanish farmers to continue protests throughout February
Spanish farmers stand next to their parked tractors during a protest in Burgos, northern Spain, on February 6, 2024. Photo: CESAR MANSO/AFP.

The organisation leading the protests by Spanish agricultural sector workers, Platform 6-F, has called for the resignation of Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, against whom the group also pledged to take legal action following clashes between police and protestors last week.

This comes as the farmers’ protests move into their second week on Monday with Spanish hauliers have also pledged an indefinite walkout.

The protests continued to cause traffic problems around the country on Monday.

Farmers plan to maintain their street protests across the country for at least the rest of February, according to the updated schedules of different agricultural groups and organisations.

Speaking in a press conference in Madrid on Monday afternoon, 6-F’s legal spokesman Xaime da Pena Gutiérrez said: “There is a contradiction on the part of the government, since it is talking about the protests being legitimate, but then it acts as if they were not.”

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Why are farmers in Spain protesting?

Gutiérrez insisted that the 6-F Platform “demands for the resignation of Marlaska” and highlighted mixed messaging coming from the government.

Farmers are not the only group asking for Marlaska’s resignation today, though for very different issues. While Gutiérrez spoke with the press, much of the Spanish right spent Monday also calling on Marlaska to resign following the deaths of two guardia civil agents chasing drug traffickers in southern Spain over the weekend.

The 6-F legal spokesman went on to say that the organisation will not only take legal action against Marlaska but, if necessary, also against the police force following violent clashes over the weekend.

“We are going to report the agents who beat people, of which there were more than 30,” the spokesman said.

6-F claims that more than 60 people were injured in clashes with police in Madrid on Saturday, when tractors parked in front of the Metropolitano stadium.

“The instructions from the Ministry of the Interior were to act forcefully and beat the farmers. It can’t be allowed. We are going to take forceful legal action as well. It will be proven that there are more than 60 injured,” Gutiérrez added.

He also hinted at a change in tactics, moving away from blocking infrastructure with tractors and trucks towards the use of animals.

“The physical safety of farmers must prevail. That’s why Platform 6-F is going to change its strategy: today there are animals walking on the roads, and let’s see if that’s how the animals are protected. 4,000 sheep in Castilla-La Mancha are very difficult to stop. We demand to sit down with the government,” he reiterated again.

Police are also considering investigating Lola Guzmán, leader of the 6-F Platform, for an alleged hate crime after she stated publicly that she wished ETA, the now defunct Basque terror group, had killed more police officers. The comments were made in the aftermath of the police charge against protestors in Madrid on Saturday.

Provisional farmers’ protest calendar

The demonstrations will go on until at least the end of February, though it is worth noting that 6-F is not formally aligned with trade unions, who have called their own protests and walkouts. Smaller, local agricultural groups could also stage their own demonstrations.

READ ALSO: How long will the farmers’ roadblocks in Spain last?

In Granada, for example, agricultural organisations Asaja, COAG and UPA, together with Agroalimentary Cooperatives (Faeca), have already announced mobilisations lasting until at least the end of May, which will include approximately fifteen different days of action.

As of 16:00 on Monday 12th February, the protests provisionally confirmed are:

  • Tuesday 13 February: Farmers in La Rioja and Zaragoza will take to the roads and there will be protests called by Unión de Uniones in the ports of Tarragona and Santander.
  • Wednesday 14 February: Demonstrations are planned in Toledo, Guadalajara, Jaén, Seville, Palencia, Soria and Santa María La Real de Nieva (Segovia).
  • Thursday 15 February: Castellón and Boceguillas (Segovia).
  • Friday 16 February: Unión de Uniones has called for demonstrations in Venta Pinillas (Segovia).
  • Wednesday 21 February: Unión de Uniones also plans to carry park tractors outside Spain’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Madrid, and the Asaja, COAG and UPA unions have called for action in Murcia.
  • Thursday 22 February: Protests in Aragón, Cádiz and in the port of Valencia.
  • Friday 23 February: What is (for now) scheduled to be the final day of demonstrations will take place in León.

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TOURISM

‘It’s become unliveable’: Spain’s Málaga plans protests against mass tourism

After recent protests in the Canaries and seemingly growing anti-tourism sentiment across Spain, locals in the Costa del Sol city of Málaga are also planning demonstrations in June against the 'touristification' of their city.

Published: 2 May 2024 11:20 CEST
'It's become unliveable': Spain's Málaga plans protests against mass tourism

Locals in Málaga are set to take to the streets in protest against mass-tourism in June, demanding an end to the ‘touristification’ of their city.

This comes after large protests in the Canary Islands in recent weeks and growing anti-tourist sentiment around the country.

Tension among locals in places such as Barcelona, Valencia, the Balearic and Canary Islands, as well as Málaga, stems from frustration with the mass tourism model and its impact on their cities.

READ ALSO: Why Spain is a cheap mass tourism destination

Often, it is also about the post-pandemic influx of remote workers and digital nomads from abroad, many of whom come to Spain to enjoy a (relatively speaking) cheaper cost of living with high foreign wages and purchasing power than many local Spaniards struggle to compete with.

READ ALSO: Mass protests in Spain’s Canary Islands decry overtourism

In this sense, much of the building anti-mass tourism sentiment brewing in Spain is bundled up in a more general (and at times somewhat confused or misplaced) anti-foreigner feeling that views outsiders, whether it be traditional tourists or digital nomads, as exploiting Spain and the expense of Spaniards.

In cities such as Málaga, locals are being priced out of their own neighbourhoods as more and more properties are turned into short-term tourist rentals owned by landlords (many of them Spaniards or commercial multi-property owners) wanting to cash in.

A growing number of Malagueños have had enough and will take to the streets on June 29th under the slogan ‘for decent housing and against the processes of touristification and precariousness of life’.

The event’s aim is to protest the tourist model in the city: ‘Málaga has become an unliveable city for those of us who live there. It is over! For a Málaga to live in and not to survive’ are among the catchphrases expected to be used at the demonstration.

Organised by the Málaga Tenants Union, the protest will challenge the ‘exploitation of housing, work and life’ in the Andalusian city.

Locals would say this has been a long time coming. In many ways, Málaga has become a victim of its own success, particularly after it was voted as the best city for foreign residents in the InterNations Expat City Ranking 2023. In the post-pandemic period, scores of foreigners have moved to the city.

READ ALSO:  Why Spain’s Málaga is becoming a victim of its own success

So much so that eight out of 10 new residents moving to Málaga are currently foreigners, according to recent data from Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE). Stats show that in 2022 Málaga welcomed a total of 56,242 inhabitants, of which 44,656 were foreigners and 11,586 were Spanish nationals.

In recent months the city has become inundated with anti-tourist stickers.

“This used to be my home” (antes esta era mi casa) , “go f*cking home” (a tu puta casa), “stinking of tourist” (apestando a turista), “this used to be the city centre” (antes esto era el centro) and “Your dead loved ones, mayor” (Alcalde tus muertos) are some of the hostile messages recently adorning walls and doors in Málaga.

READ ALSO: ‘Get the f*ck out of here’: Spain’s Málaga plastered with anti-tourism stickers

The growing foreign population, combined with the pre-existing mass tourist model, has inflated the local property market. Rental prices have increased by 16.5 percent compared since the end of 2022 and have now reached an average of €15.5/m2, stats from property portal Idealista show, while the cost to buy a home in Málaga has increased by 11 percent to an average of €3,049/m2, reaching a new historic high.

According to a study by HelloSafe, Málaga is the second most expensive province in the country when compared to the average salary, just behind Barcelona. It estimates that 81 percent of the average salary in Málaga is used on living and rent.

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