Walter Finch
ANTI-TOURISM activists have targeted Mallorca’s Osborne Bull monument with graffiti telling wealthy foreign homebuyers to ‘go to hell.’
The vandalism, shared on Instagram by protest group SOS Residents, has sparked concern for both its anti-foreigner and ‘anti-colonisation’ messages on the Catalan-speaking island.
The message ‘rich foreign property buyers go to hell’ was sprayed on the famous bull monument located on the Ma-15 road between Algaida and Montuïri.
SOS Residents wrote: “This morning we were given a pleasant surprise!”
“We applaud the good taste they’ve had for a double party: to malign the symbol of ‘Spanishisation’ with an anti-colonialist message.”
The graffiti has received mixed reactions on social media, with the post gathering nearly 1,400 likes and numerous comments debating the merits of such protest actions.
“Thank you rich foreign property buyers for letting us live a modern life without hard work, based on the selling of properties that our grandfathers bought for nothing and now we sell for a thousand times price of that,” one commenter wrote.
“It also allows us to avoid any long term investments in industry and, on top of everything, we can blame YOU for the lack of properties available to our own people because it is way easier than admitting that we are selling our land cheap and are incapable of admitting our own guilt in all this.”
The Osborne Bull has become a focal point for discontent and protest in Mallorca for its associations with Spanish culture and commercial takeover.
While protected as a national cultural icon across Spain, its presence in Mallorca has become increasingly controversial in a region with a strong independent identities.
While hundreds of these striking black bulls still stand on Spanish hillsides, Mallorca hosts just one, making it a particularly prominent target.
The graffiti appears as Mallorca’s hotels prepare for another tourist season, amid growing local frustration over soaring property prices and what residents call the ‘colonisation’ of the island by wealthy foreign buyers.
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This latest protest follows a pattern of increasing activism against overtourism on the Balearic island.
Last summer saw numerous demonstrations against mass tourism, with residents arguing that the influx of visitors and foreign property investors is making the island unaffordable for locals.
Housing prices in Mallorca have risen dramatically in recent years, driven by foreign buyers seeking second homes and investment properties.
Local advocacy groups estimate that many areas have seen property values double in the past decade, pushing out resident buyers and creating what they term a ‘theme park’ environment in traditional neighborhoods.
Local authorities have not yet commented on the incident, which comes as the island grapples with record tourist numbers and growing calls for restrictions on foreign property ownership, similar to measures adopted in other European tourist hotspots.
