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6/17/2025, 7:10:46 PM
https://archive.is/20250616053425/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/06/16/my-day-with-spanish-anti-tourist-activists/#selection-4229.67-4229.77
>This was supposed to be an anti-tourism protest in Barcelona, one of many co-ordinated across southern Europe on Sunday.
>After making a short political stand, the Assembly for Tourism Degrowth moved on, with the tourist magnet of the Sagrada Familia church in our sights
>Then came the tape. Activists began crossing the front entrance repeatedly, symbolically “barring” entry with red-and-white ribbon. It was too much for one hostel employee, who stormed out shouting in frustration.
>Protesters sprayed him with their water pistols as he tore through the tape, grabbed one of the guns, and returned fire. A brief scuffle broke out, with pushing and shoving, before he was eventually pulled back inside.
>Moments later, another activist emerged from the crowd and picked up where the soaking had left off. He kicked a smoke bomb into the hostel, where horrified tourists – including children – looked on.
>For groups like hers, tourism is not just a nuisance but a form of “economic colonisation,” where quality of life is sacrificed for the comfort of short-term visitors. Their goal, they insist, is not better tourism but less of it.
>That may be true for most activists but their actions sometimes blur the line. The most common chant that echoed throughout the day was: “Tourists go home, refugees welcome.”
Do you consider yourself a good tourist? Would you sit there like a cuck if you got smoked out of a hostel and sprayed by 30 refugees with water pistols?
>This was supposed to be an anti-tourism protest in Barcelona, one of many co-ordinated across southern Europe on Sunday.
>After making a short political stand, the Assembly for Tourism Degrowth moved on, with the tourist magnet of the Sagrada Familia church in our sights
>Then came the tape. Activists began crossing the front entrance repeatedly, symbolically “barring” entry with red-and-white ribbon. It was too much for one hostel employee, who stormed out shouting in frustration.
>Protesters sprayed him with their water pistols as he tore through the tape, grabbed one of the guns, and returned fire. A brief scuffle broke out, with pushing and shoving, before he was eventually pulled back inside.
>Moments later, another activist emerged from the crowd and picked up where the soaking had left off. He kicked a smoke bomb into the hostel, where horrified tourists – including children – looked on.
>For groups like hers, tourism is not just a nuisance but a form of “economic colonisation,” where quality of life is sacrificed for the comfort of short-term visitors. Their goal, they insist, is not better tourism but less of it.
>That may be true for most activists but their actions sometimes blur the line. The most common chant that echoed throughout the day was: “Tourists go home, refugees welcome.”
Do you consider yourself a good tourist? Would you sit there like a cuck if you got smoked out of a hostel and sprayed by 30 refugees with water pistols?
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