They were the squirts heard around the world. A handful of anti-tourism protesters doused visitors to Barcelona with water pistols during a demonstration this month, chasing them off restaurant terraces.
As images of the aquatic assault hit the press from the US to China to Australia, and triggered a branding crisis for the Spanish city, the pistoleers were condemned by tourism executives for scaring visitors away.
Organisers say the stunt was unplanned, but understandable. “People are pissed off,” says Martí Cusó, who helped direct the 3,000-strong protest march. “It’s normal that if what’s closest to you is a hotel, or tourists on a terrace, then the unhappiness gets channelled towards them.”