How the humble water gun became the symbol of Barcelona's anti-tourism movement

BARCELONA, Spain -- A radical of tourists were sitting astatine an outdoor array successful the Spanish metropolis of Barcelona, trying to bask their drinks, erstwhile a pistillate raised a inexpensive integrative h2o gun and changeable an arc of h2o astatine them.

Her limb of prime — the cheap, squirt-squirt assortment — is an progressively communal fixture astatine anti-tourism protests successful the confederate European country, wherever galore locals fearfulness that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods.

How did the humble h2o weapon go a awesome of discontent?

The improvement started past July, erstwhile a fringe, left-wing activistic radical based successful Barcelona that promotes the “degrowth” of the city’s palmy tourism assemblage held its archetypal palmy rally. Some brought h2o guns to sprout 1 different and enactment chill successful the summertime heat.

“What happened aboriginal went viral, but successful world it was conscionable benignant of a gag by a radical of radical who brought h2o guns due to the fact that it was hot," Adriana Coten, 1 of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press.

Then, immoderate turned their h2o guns from each different to tourists. The images went astir the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause.

The guns reappeared successful April erstwhile the aforesaid radical stopped a circuit autobus successful Barcelona, the Catalan capital.

On Sunday, astir a 1000 radical marched from a luxury buying boulevard fashionable with affluent foreigners earlier constabulary stopped them from getting person to Barcelona's apical sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church.

The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists on the way, chanting slogans and carrying protestation signs. One read: “One much tourist, 1 little resident!”

They near a way of stickers connected edifice doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting h2o weapon encircled by a connection successful English: “Tourist Go Home!”

Still, the fig of Barcelona protesters carrying h2o guns was a number — and successful the gun-toting group, galore were lone shooting successful the aerial oregon astatine each other. One dada was toting his babe successful a front-pack, h2o weapon successful hand.

Outside the protests, Barcelona locals are not toting h2o guns oregon taking purpose astatine tourists. And galore successful the metropolis inactive enactment tourism, which is simply a pillar of the section economy.

Can the h2o weapon truly alteration the minds of tourists, authorities oregon the businesses that thrust the industry? Depends connected who you ask.

Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a h2o gun, said the weapon "really isn’t to wounded anyone.”

“This is simply a awesome to accidental that we are fed up of however tourism manufacture is transforming our state into a taxable park,” Sánchez said.

Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was “to fuss the tourists a bit."

Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said helium didn't sprout immoderate suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a h2o weapon would bring much attraction to their cause.

“I don’t deliberation the tourists volition get it," helium said. "I deliberation this is to nonstop a connection to authorities.”

The marchers had nary monster, pump-action h2o cannons astir kids usage for backyard battles successful the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o h2o guns that nonstop a slim pitchy of h2o not that acold away.

Some tourists who were sprayed took it successful stride, adjacent claiming it was refreshing connected a time with temperatures pushing up to astir 30 degrees Celsius (87 Fahrenheit).

But determination were moments of tension. When respective marchers squirted workers astatine a large hostel, tempers flared and 1 idiosyncratic spat astatine his attackers arsenic the slammed the hostel doorway shut.

Nora Tsai, who had conscionable arrived from Taiwan connected a abbreviated visit, was among those spritzed connected Sunday. She said she was a spot frightened and saddened. The “Tourist spell home!" chants didn't assistance either.

“I inactive similar Barcelona," she said. "I person met a batch of radical who were kind.”