UK tourists in Spain's Tenerife and Lanzarote ordered to 'go home' as thousands protest

UK holidaymakers in Lanzarote and Tenerife have been told to "go home" by local residents. British tourists in the European Union have been "forced to flee" as 'Go Home Tourist!' signs are put up in Spain by the 'Canary Islands Have a Limit' group.

Visitors at Tenerife's Playa de las Americas and Troya beaches were confronted by protesters chanting "more tourists, more misery." This comes as demonstrations continue across Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote, La Palma, and El Hierro. Protesters are rallying against tourism, with over 20 groups now uniting under the "Canary Islands have a limit" campaign.

At the Playa de las Americas in Tenerife, a hotspot for British tourists, demonstrators appeared on the beach while holidaymakers were sunbathing, chanting: "This beach is ours," reports Birmingham Live. "We need a change in the tourist model so it leaves richness here, a change so it values what this land has because it is beautiful," stated Sara Lopez, 32, in Gran Canaria.

Hundreds of protesters marched through Valencia on Saturday demanding more affordable housing, arguing that tourist flats inflate prices. In the Canaries, 8,000 protesters participated. One woman held a cardboard sign reading: "Tourists, go f*****g home."

Other placards carried by protesters read: "Enjoying a day at your pool? That water could be going on food' as well as "Macrotourism destroys Canary Islands" and "The Canaries have a limit. More trees, less hotels. " Another banner, written in Spanish, read: "The Canaries Don't Live off Tourism. Tourism lives off the Canaries."

The protests were reportedly peaceful, although demonstrators, who displayed banners including one in English that read 'Go Home Tourist', were allegedly met with mockery and taunts. Victor Martin, a spokesperson for Canarias Se Agota, which translates to 'Canary Islands on the Brink,' stated: "The hunger strike is indefinite and will continue until the two macro hotel projects we're fighting against are stopped for ever and the regional agreement agrees in writing to sit down and talk to us about a tourist moratorium."