The America’s Cup final takes place this weekend in Barcelona. The New Zealanders, defending champions, took the advantage over the British (France was eliminated in the first round). But this sailing competition is not unanimous in Spain.
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Thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday October 13 in Barcelona, to denounce an event which they believe contributes to the tourist saturation of the Mediterranean city. “The America’s Cup is not welcome. Tourists have killed my neighborhood” : this is the slogan that can be read on the sign of a demonstrator marching on the port. The America’s Cup is a symbol, that of a city that lives only for major events and tourism, explains Isabel : “It’s an elitist competition, for the wealthy. We’re accumulating quantities of events here. We’re demonstrating against this model, which sees the city as a product.”
The demonstrators went to the beach. They encountered New Zealand supporters, intrigued by this mobilization. But there were no incidents.
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Barcelona has been facing a housing crisis for two years. For protesters, the America’s Cup has only made the problem worse : “This raises rents and makes citizens more precarious, says a protester. We shouldn’t put public money into this, citizens don’t benefit from it and that makes life here more and more difficult.” Another believes that Barcelona “has become a tourist amusement park. It’s unsustainable.”
In addition to the city’s socialist mayor, the French group LVMH was targeted in slogans by the crowd. Louis Vuitton is the main sponsor of the America’s Cup.