Anti-tourism group target holidaymakers during protest in Mallorca

THE Balearic Council has reacted with fury after protest group Arran Països Catalans staged an antitourist rally in Palma de Mallorca.

A number of demonstrators brandishing flares invaded a restaurant on the capital’s port and hurled confetti at customers, later posting a video of the event on social media.

More flares were set off outside, in front of luxury yachts and hundreds of pedestrians. The group has recently performed a number of similar stunts in Barcelona, holding up a tourist bus before plastering it in graffiti and later slashing the tyres of rental bikes.

It is the first time that the organisation, formed by young members of the pro-independence left, has carried out a protest on Mallorca.

Director General of tourism Pilar Carbonell criticised the stunt, arguing that while citizens have “every right in the world” to express their opinion in a democratic system, they should not “put people or their belongings at risk.”

In her opinion the best way to deal with the issue of increasing tourism is to “advance” towards a “redistribution” of the money it generates for the island in order to achieve a “social and economic balance,” an ideal that the “progressive” Balearic council is “working towards.”

The opposition Popular Party released a statement condemning violent action towards tourists by radical groups.