In the early hours of last Thursday, Playa de Las Américas, one of the busiest tourist destinations in the south of Tenerife, witnessed an incident of vandalism that resulted in significant material losses. Between 9 pm and 6 am, unidentified individuals vandalised 236 sun loungers situated on the beaches of Las Vistas and El Camisón, as well as scrawling graffiti featuring phrases like Canarias defends itself and Canarias is not for sale on some of the loungers.
Braulio Melián Pérez, the manager of El Enyesque SL, the company responsible for managing beach services near Los Cristianos, expressed his concerns yesterday regarding the absence of police presence in the coves during the nighttime. This situation has raised alarm among service providers of this nature. “We have been without beach police for two years,” he stated, urging for “immediate” action to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.
The destruction impacted 100 loungers on Las Vistas beach and 136 on El Camisón. No suspects have been apprehended so far, and it is hoped that security cameras from nearby establishments will aid in identifying those responsible.
Melián noted that those behind the attack “were familiar with the location and the furniture.” “It was planned. There are many indications suggesting it is a coordinated effort,” he remarked, adding that on the day of the incident, “we did not have a night watchman.” He mentioned that the assailants “aimed to send a visual message rather than cause direct financial damage,” as they did not target the umbrellas, which he pointed out are “the most expensive items among all the furniture.”
The manager estimates the damages to be around 5,000 euros when considering materials and labour, stating that this was “the largest attack we have experienced in eight years.” The unused sun loungers have been relocated to the end of the row since the damaged ones were initially positioned on the beachfront. He indicated that replacing the destroyed loungers “could take up to a month, as the new stock is sourced from Barcelona.” “We had a total of 1,100; they removed nearly 10% in one night,” he remarked.
This act of vandalism has been perceived by the business owner as “a direct assault on tourism.” “Anyone who comes here to sit is, in 99% of cases, a tourist. This is, of course, an attack on them,” he points out, underscoring the significance of this subsector for the local economy.
The Save the Tejita platform, an organisation that has recently led demonstrations advocating for territorial protection, saw one of its representatives refuting any link between their protests and the incidents.
Conviction
“These incidents are not part of a wider situation,” they stated, responding to any speculation about a link between the two occurrences. Additionally, they expressed their condemnation of such vandalism, asserting that their mission, rather than being confrontational, is of a “media and legal” nature. “I hope they manage to locate those responsible,” they said.
The mayor of Arona, Fátima Lemes (PP), also strongly denounced the events, labelling them as “a display of incivility that threatens the heritage of Arona and severely impacts residents and visitors.” She urged community cooperation to help identify the offenders, underscoring that these violations are punishable under the law. “The people of Arona are generally quite aware of protecting their environment, yet, unfortunately, there are always exceptions,” she declared on Thursday.
