Thousands protest against Americas Cup: 'Never again'
Sailing competition held offshore with neighbors claiming affects their day-to-day
Two thousand locals -according to Barcelona's local police- gathered in Barcelona to protest against the America's Cup sailing competition organized by the platform No to the America's Cup.
The protest was organized under the slogan 'America's Cup Never Again' protesting against the effect that the sailing competition has had on the environment, the increase in rent, the privatization of the public spaces and the "opacity” of how much public money was spent on the America’s Cup being hosted in Barcelona.
The demostration began in Plaça de Correus of Barcelona, close to the sea, and was planned by organizers to arrive to the door of the America's Cup hospitality facilities, where spectators go to follow the sailing competition.
However, the protest ended two hours after it began in Plaça dels Voluntaris Olímpics, separade from the hospitality facilities by a barrier of fences and the Catalan police Mossos d'Esquadra. The demonstrators -6,000 according to the organizers- walked through Barcelona's maritime front.
During the protest there were chants against the America's Cup and the mayor Jaume Collboni such as 'Your boats rise out rents', 'Collboni give us back our money' and 'Barcelona is not for sale'.
There was also a performance by two demonstrators where they imitated Barcelona's mayor Jaume Collboni and Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, one of the main sponsors of the sailing competition. The performance was a dance to an anti-America's Cup parody of the song 'La Canción del velero'.
On a speech given by the organizers at the end of the protest, the platform emphasized that the sailing competition does not bring positive input to the city and that it is "marketed for the elites", not fot the residents.
Organizers also encouraged the protestors to continue to demonstrate if the next edition of the America's Cup were to continue in Barcelona. At the end, they burned a carbord replica of the America's Cup.
Earlier this week, the platform against the America's Cup filed a complaint with the Anti-Fraud Office of Catalonia, requesting it investigates the public funds allocated to the sailing competition.