Cala Turqueta Menorca: Anti-tourist protestors block holidaymakers from popular beach in Spain

The protestors shaped the words "SOS Menorca" in the sand along the water's edge using towels and their own bodies. According to local sources, the surprise protest by environmental non-profit organisation GOB Menorca "blocked" the car park to tourists for almost six hours starting early Saturday morning (27 July).

Protesters boasted that they had "residents' cars" filling a parking lot near the lovely cove of Cala Turqueta on the southern coast of the island Menorca. In an effort to also "hinder the arrival of tourists," the demonstrators reportedly packed the first bus that was headed for Cala Turqueta.

GOB Menorca said: “This was not a protest against tourism, but against massification and the degradation that brings. 250 people gathered in Cala Turqueta to demand a change of direction for Menorca.

“They filled the car park with residents’ cars and created messages on the sand with their towels and other things. The images captured convey the concern of the Menorcan population about the massification of the island.”

The protest was the first in the Balearic Islands since the anti-mass tourism demo in the Majorcan capital Palma on Sunday 21 July. More than 20,000 people took part according to the police, although organisers put the number at 50,000.

Protestors carried placards with messages in English reading: “We used to have a life. SOS Residents.” The protest in Menorca was also the first since June 8 on the island when around 1,000 people packed into a central square in the capital Mahon.

Some of the locals taking part in the demo in the square outside the island council HQ turned up with deckchairs, towels and sunshades as they mocked up a beach for the day on the concrete. The lead organiser of that protest was also GOB Menorca.