Water pistols are back to shoot tourists in Barcelona. After they were revealed as a weapon with a lot of media power in the great demonstration against tourism last year, the guns have returned to make an appearance as a tourist-scaring tool in protests that, this time, have been focused on the tourist bus as it passes through the Sagrada Familia.
It was there where this weekend a group of protesters , armed with water pistols, carried out a protest action against a tourist bus in front of the facade of the Passion of the Sagrada Familia.
Anti-tourist rally of Southern European countries
The protesters blocked the roadway of Sardenya street, preventing the exit of the vehicle, unfurled a banner with the slogan “Let’s put out the tourist fire” and pasted vindictive stickers on the bus. The protest, which surprised the tourists present in the area, lasted approximately ten minutes and culminated with the throwing of water at the bus with toy guns.
The activists were participants in a forum on touristification held in Barcelona that brought together members of a score of European cities this weekend at can Batlló.
The Mossos d’Esquadra, activated at the request of the Guardia Urbana, intervened and detained some participants, but no arrests were made.
The action was reminiscent of the water pistols that protesters fired at tourists sitting on terraces during the big demonstration against mass tourism on July 6 in Barcelona. On that occasion the image went around the world and served to put the issue of over-tourism in the city on the table.
Big demonstration against tourism in Europe on June 15.
The action, baptized #trobadaSET2025 is a call to the struggle and mobilizations against tourism that will be held on June 15 throughout the southern Mediterranean.
This call adds to the voices that have been calling for a decrease in tourism to avoid all the evils associated with its excess in the cities.