'We don't want any more tourists!' Thousands march through Spain's holiday hotspots in protest against airport expansion plans

Thousands of furious protesters have marched through the streets of holiday hotspots in Spain against planned airport expansions. Demonstrators waved flags and banners and blew whistles as they made their way through Barcelona, Palma in Mallorca and Ibiza Town in Ibiza. A whopping 5,500 people turned out in Barcelona alone, according to local police, with thousands more in Palma and Ibiza. Organisers disputed the numbers in Barcelona, claiming it was more like 30,000. They raised concerns that the proposals would bring in more tourists to areas that are already battling overtourism. There were reportedly no arrests and the demonstrations were described as 'mainly peaceful'. The Spanish airport authority Aena denies that multi-million pound airport expansion plans are only designed to bring in more holidaymakers at a time when locals in holiday hotspots are already distressed by alleged 'overtourism'. The management body insists improvements and upgrades are necessary to keep pace with changing demands.The centre of Barcelona was taken over yesterday (Sunday) as locals demanded a halt to the expansion of El Prat airport. Thousands took to the streets in Barcelona in protest against proposed airport expansions in Spain on Sunday Protesters holding signs that read 'fewer planes, more life' in Barcelona The protest had the support of more than 250 entities and groups and more than 150 academics, according to the organisers. Groups such as 'Living costs us life', 'Enough noise', the association for the promotion of public transport, and even members of the Educational Assembly and health professionals joined in. Around 300 cyclists joined the route and four farm tractors.The march started at noon on Passeig de Gràcia under the slogan 'No to expansion, neither now nor never' and ended the route in Plaça de Sant Jaume.The protest came five years after another mobilisation against the project, when the Spanish government and the Generalitat announced the expansion agreement. It also comes around the same time that Aena's 2027-2031 investment plan has been approved, which includes a project to prepare for the expansion.Banners declared slogans such as: 'Commuter trains for the people, not airports for the 1 per cent,' 'Jaume Collboni, carbon dioxide', 'Support, help, this is an ecocide' and 'Listen to science, this is an emergency', among others.The mayor of El Prat de Llobregat, Alba Bou, said: 'It is disappointing to think that they have not buried an expansion proposal that does not do any service to ordinary people and to those who aspire to leave a liveable world to future generations.'In Mallorca's capital of Palma, the protest called by the platform against the Expansion of Palma Airport brought together hundreds of people to demand that any action that allows increasing the capacity of Son Sant Joan be stopped. They said any action should be directed at reducing the number of flights, moving towards a tourism model that relieved pressure from the island.Spokesman Pere Joan Femenia said that the Balearic Islands are 'at the limit', and questioned the arguments of Aena, which maintains that the actions planned in the airports of the islands correspond to improvements and adaptations of the facilities and not to expansions of capacity. Farmers drove tractors in the street as part of the demonstration Demonstrators protested against the expansion of Barcelona-El Prat Airport (pictured)Among the main demands of the platform are the reduction of the number of flights, the limitation of private aviation and the approval of an airport co-management law that allows the Balearic Islands to participate in decisions about their infrastructures. The entity has also called for an end to night flights and has focused on the inconvenience suffered by some residents near the airport.'It cannot be that after midnight planes continue to pass over our houses,' Pere Joan Femenia said during the rally, in reference to the complaints of residents affected by the noise of Son Sant Joan.The demonstrators also demanded that the institutions stop promoting new air routes and have defended the need for the Balearic Islands to be able to regulate the capacity of their airports according to the tourist and environmental pressure that the Islands are facing.In Ibiza, the demonstration was called yesterday evening by the Associació Joves d'Eivissa.Demonstrators said Aena's intentions to expand the airport have been rejected by the majority of political parties, organisations and members of civil society, opposed to the expansion of the airport facilities implying a greater arrival of tourists than the current one.The protest comes after weeks of mobilisations against the project.The organisers had already expressed their rejection of the increase of the current 17 boarding gates to 32, as well as the expansion of the VIP area and the creation of a specific area for non-Schengen flights, saying these actions would put more pressure on the territory and public services.Aena maintains that the refurbishment will not increase the capacity of the airfield or the number of take-offs and landings per hour and argues that the increase in gates responds to the need to separate Schengen and non-Schengen flows and adapt to European safety regulations.