Barcelona, Spain (AP). The group sat at the outdoor table in the Spanish city in Barcelona, trying to enjoy her drinks when a woman lifted a cheap plastic water pistol and shot a water bow.
Her chosen weapon-like, rowan diversity-is increasingly more common in the anti-tourism protest in southern Europe, where many locals fear that overload visitors are leading them from their cherished neighborhoods.
How did the humble water gun become a symbol of dissatisfaction?
From refreshing to revolution
This phenomenon began in July last year, when the left -wing group of activists in Barcelona, which encourages the “humiliation” of the successful city tourism sector, organized the first successful rally. Some brought water weapons to shoot each other and be cool during summer heat.
“What happened later became a viral, but in reality it was just a joke from people who brought water weapons because it was hot,” Adriana Coten, one of the neighborhood Assembly tourism destruction organizers, told The Associated Press.
Then some turned the weapons of water from each other for tourists. The images took place around the world and became a coup for publicity for the cause of antiurism.
The pistols reappeared in April, when the same group stopped a travel bus in Barcelona, the capital of Catalan.
Drawn weapons
On Sunday, about a thousand people marched from a luxury boulevard, popular with wealthy foreigners before the police stopped them as they approached the highest vision of Barcelona: La Sagrada Familia Church.
The fighters pushed unsuspecting tourists on the way, sang slogans and carried protest signs. One states: “Another tourist, one less resident!”
They left the sticker trail on the hotel door, light bulbs and outdoor cafes tables depicting a sip of water gun that the message in English is: “Tourist go home!”
However, the number of Barcelona protesters transporting a water pistol was a minority-and weapon capture group many shot only in the air or to each other. One dad squeezed his baby in the front packaging, the water gun in his hand.
Outside the protests, Barcelona locals do not go into water weapons and do not seek tourists. And many in the city still support tourism, which is the pillar of the local economy.
“Symbol”
Can a water gun really change the thoughts of tourists, authorities or companies that encourage industry? Depends on what you ask.
Protestant Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, every one who holds a water pistol, said the pistol “really doesn’t have to hurt anyone.”
“It is a symbol to say that we are fed up with how the tourism industry turns our country into an amusement park,” Sánchez said.
Another demonstrate, Andreu Martínez, admitted that “a little bit of tourists.”
The 46 -year -old architect Laurens Schocher said he had not shot any suspected tourists, but hoped that the water pistol would pay more attention to their affairs.
“I don’t think tourists will get it,” he said. “I think it has to send a message to the authorities.”
Squirter can hurt your feelings
Fighters had no monster, pump water cannons that most children use in the yard for battles in the summer. They were old schools, cheap water pistols that send a thin stream of water not so far.
Some tourists who were sprayed took it by walking, even claiming that it was a refreshing day at a temperature of about 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheitis).
But there were moments of tension. When a few hikers squeezed the staff in a large hostel, Tempes caught fire and one employee spit on his attackers when he killed the hostel door.
Sunday among those who just arrived from Taiwan, Nora Tsai, who has just arrived from Taiwan. She said she was a little scared and upset. “The tourist goes home!” The Chants didn’t help either.
“I still like Barcelona,” she said. “I met a lot of people who were nice.”