Protests against surging mass tourism in Mexico City end in vandalism, harassment of tourists
Masked protesters smashed through the windows and looted high-end businesses in the touristic areas of Condesa and Roma, and screamed at tourists in the area. Graffiti on glass shattered glass being smashed through with rocks read: 'get out of Mexico.' Protesters held signs reading 'gringos, stop stealing our home' and demanding local legislation to better regulate tourism levels and stricter housing laws.
Marchers then continued on to protest outside the U.S. Embassy and chanted inside the city's metro system. Police reinforcements gathered outside the Embassy building as police sirens rung out in the city center Friday evening.
It marked a violent end to a more peaceful march throughout the day calling out against masses of mostly American tourists who have flooded into Mexico's capital in recent years.
Tension had been mounting in the city since U.S. 'digital nomads' flocked to Mexico City in 2020, many to escape coronavirus lockdowns in the U.S. or to take advantage of cheaper rent prices in the Latin American city.
Since then, rents have soared and locals have increasingly gotten pushed out of their neighborhoods, particularly areas like Condesa and Roma, lush areas packed with coffee shops and restaurants.
Michelle Castro, a 19-year-old college student, was among the flocks of people protesting. She said that she's from the city's working class city center, and that she's watched slowly as apartment buildings have been turned into housing for tourists.
'Mexico City is going through a transformation,' she said. 'There are a lot of foreigners, namely Americans, coming to live here. Many say it's xenophobia, but it's not. It's just that so many foreigners come here, rents are skyrocketing because of Airbnb. Rents are so high that some people can't even pay anymore.'
The Mexico City protest follows others in European cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Rome against mass tourism.
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Scottish Sun
29 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Terrifying moment boy, 4, was taken from his bed by stranger as he slept beside his twin – and was never seen again
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The harrowing case is now finally set to come to trial this year. read more news DARK DISCOVERY Harrowing true story of Heather Robinson kidnapped by serial killer 'uncle' And one lawyer told The Sun it is going strain the American legal system, with swirling questions around mental health and competency. Brown allegedly broke into the house just before 5am on May 15, 2021, and snatched the tot. The same day, Cash was tragically found dead around eight blocks away from the house by a jogger. Cash passed away from multiple stab wounds, with cops previously saying his wounds appeared to have been inflicted by an "edged weapon". Brown was identified following the release of the CCTV footage of a man snatching the four-year-old in the middle of the night. He is charged with capital murder in the heinous killing and has finally been deemed competent to stand trial, a judge declared four years after the incident. Cash's blood was found on Brown's clothes, according to the murder affidavit. 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"The way they usually do this is they treat you and determine when you are reasonably competent to stand trial. 8 Cash passed away from multiple stab wounds Credit: GoFundMe 8 Cash Gernon was only four 8 The suspect was reportedly seen outside the home the boy was taken from weeks before his death "They've done all of that, and now he's been determined to be reasonably competent to stand trial, but the defence is still allowed to show that at the time of the offence, he could not understand the wrongfulness of his actions. "That doesn't mean he is not competent now - but at the time he did it, he may not have understood the wrong of his based on some mental disease or defect." Dr Sanders also explained how the tragic case could even test the limits of the legal system's ability to balance justice as well as mental health. He added: " The issues in society are how do we view mental health? And is mental health a mitigation and extenuation? 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Spectator
5 hours ago
- Spectator
It's time to arm the police
Displays of sheer physical bravery are always impressive. Having been in precisely one real fight in my life, I enormously admire those who put their lives on their line for the rest of us every day, so I almost found myself applauding when I saw last week the police bodycam footage of Inspector Molloy Campbell taking on the drug-crazed sword-wielding murderer Marcus Monzo. Armed only with his extendable baton, Campbell kept Monzo at bay, before other officers eventually subdue him with tasers. Nevertheless, admiration was not my only reaction to that video. It also occurred to me that the situation could have been resolved much more quickly if Campbell and his colleagues were routinely equipped with guns, like the vast majority of police worldwide. Of European countries, only Iceland, Norway and Ireland have unarmed police forces, although there are places, such as France, where certain tiers of law enforcement are sometimes unarmed, at the discretion of local authorities (it is perhaps relevant that Iceland, Norway and Ireland are sparsely populated and between them have a lower population than the London metropolitan area). Monzo had committed two assaults, one of them lethal, before the police arrived on the scene. Constables with guns would not have made a difference to the outcome of those incidents. But four additional people were attacked after the arrival of the police; two police officers and a married couple, whose home he broke into after fighting off initial attempts to detain him. Obviously, no one can say for certain how things might have gone with police able to use firearms to incapacitate Mr Monzo, rather than fiddling around with batons, pepper sprays and tasers, but it doesn't seem wildly speculative to think that the situation might have been resolved in a more satisfactory way. Guns are not a panacea. Sceptics will point, reasonably enough, to surveys suggesting that large numbers of serving police officers would be reluctant to carry firearms. They might note also that such a step could be counter-productive, as criminals increase their own firepower in response. Plausibly we could see a rise in wrongful shootings, which are vanishingly rare in Britain. Some on the right argue that given the current problems within our police forces, it would be highly unwise to give them more power to intimidate the public. All of these points need to be considered carefully. There is, though, one particular objection that I don't find at all persuasive: what you might call the nostalgic argument. This line of thought harks back to a great British tradition of unarmed policing, which sets us apart from the rest of the world. This is not Napoleonic France or Prussia, where armed gendarmeries do the bidding of a centralised and oppressive state. Here the police operate by consent, not force; they are citizens in uniform, happy to give directions to the park or search for a lost dog, and maybe even do a bit of light traffic-directing now and again. The position harks back to Peel and his original nine principles, which were intended to cement law and order while respecting Britain's tradition of personal liberty. And it is undoubtedly a very attractive vision, genuinely grounded in the historical reality of Britain as an unusually peaceful, law-abiding and well-policed country. Unfortunately, however, things have changed. This is reflected in the look of police officers. I'm old enough now that I can remember when coppers on duty wore woolly jumpers and ties, and carried the equipment they needed on a single belt, rather than being weighed down by military-style webbing creaking with all manner of paraphernalia. The 'long peace' of low crime enjoyed by Britain from the last decades of the nineteenth century to around the middle of the twentieth, is well and truly over. In 1951, the last year before the accession of Queen Elizabeth II, there were 214 robberies in the entire Metropolitan Police area, which then contained around eight million people. In the year after her death, 2023, the Met recorded over 30,000 robberies – for a population that had only risen by a million or so people overall since 1951. Almost all forms of violent crime are massively higher than they were 60 or 70 years ago, even if they have declined somewhat from their modern peak in the 1990s. The murder rate has increased by 50 per cent since 1960, and the vast improvements in trauma medicine in the last half century mask, to some extent, the increase in would-be murderous assaults. There is an ongoing, if seemingly diminished, threat from rampage terror attacks, and for various reasons there are a lot more unstable or mentally ill people roaming the streets of our big cities, and their rare but potentially horrific outbursts of violence can be hard for police to subdue using their current equipment. There is no irrefutable argument for giving the police firearms. For all our problems, Britain does remain peaceful by global standards. Perhaps it would be a very bad idea to put guns in the hands of our current arrogant politicised forces, thus enabling more effective intimidation of people who criticise the leadership of their local school or say they're not too keen on Islam or want to pray quietly near an abortion clinic. But the British social fabric is deteriorating – we cannot be complacent about the serious challenges that the forces of law and order might face in coming decades. Even if we don't want to let the current breed of hatchet-faced commissars have pistols, we must not rule out arming reformed and renewed British police forces. The Monzo incident is far from the only occasion in recent years when a dangerous threat to the public could have been subdued far more quickly and safely, if the first police responders had their own guns.
North Wales Live
6 hours ago
- North Wales Live
Iconic holiday park nominated as one of the best in prestigious UK travel awards
A popular family holiday spot is celebrating national acclaim after being shortlisted for two top honours at the 2025 British Travel Awards. Butlin's Bognor Regis has been named a finalist in both the 'Best Company for UK Parks and Lodges Holidays' and 'Favourite Company for Radio Advertisements' categories. These prestigious, consumer-voted awards recognise outstanding achievement across the UK's travel and leisure sector, spanning everything from holiday parks to cruise lines. With winners chosen entirely by public vote, the awards provide a genuine reflection of what matters most to UK holidaymakers. Butlin's is urging holidaymakers to cast their votes before the deadline on 1 November. Everyone who takes part will be automatically entered into a prize draw, with rewards including a £5,000 Greek holiday, a river cruise worth over £4,000, holiday vouchers of up to £1,000, or a £5,000 European villa break. Votes can be submitted online via the British Travel Awards website, reports the Mirror. The Bognor Regis resort has recently revealed new attractions following an ambitious program of refurbishment. Among the highlights is the company's largest-ever indoor Soft Play centre, spanning over 3,000 square feet across four floors and accommodating up to 200 children at a time - double the previous capacity. The resort's family-friendly appeal has been further enhanced with the introduction of a new Puppet Theatre, themed play zones, a sensory area for babies, a cosy café and complimentary shows such as Under The Sea and Christmouse. These additions have already proven popular, with thousands of families set to visit during the school holidays. The £1.8 million Soft Play investment is part of broader developments across Butlin's three seaside resorts. Bognor Regis also boasts the £15 million indoor activity centre PLAYXPERIENCE, offering nine immersive gaming experiences, ranging from laser tag and a VR arcade to escape rooms and more. In addition, the Minehead site recently welcomed a second £2.5 million SKYPARK, an inclusive and interactive playground suitable for children of all abilities. Over in Skegness, the £12 million Maple Walk village introduced 128 contemporary Premium Lodges at the heart of the resort. To mark these developments, Butlin's has launched a significant summer sale on 2025 and 2026 holidays, offering discounts of up to 40%. Deals include Midweek Showtime breaks at Bognor Regis from £69 in June, Summer Holidays with Stephen Mulhern featuring three-night stays from £352 and Justin Fletcher Tots Breaks starting at £79 in September. Holiday parks remain a beloved British institution, with families booking breaks to enjoy an action-packed getaway closer to home. For those seeking a break by the sea Haven Holidays offers an ideal combination of entertainment and sentimentality. Parkdean Resorts offers a similar arrangement across 66 locations featuring swimming facilities, onsite restaurants and more than a touch of old school nostalgia. While Center Parcs remains a favourite for its forest escapes packed with activities, prices can soar during school holidays. Brits love Butlins for the affordable fun it offers, with holidaymakers sharing their experiences on TripAdvisor. One visitor said: "We had a lovely Easter break at Butlin's Bognor. Top quality entertainment, engaging and friendly staff and we had the weather too. Such good fun for young and old alike. Very impressed with the new soft play, the Splash water park was fabulous and from start to finish we received nothing but exceptional customer service." Another family who stayed at Minehead added: "We've just returned from our most amazing family break at Butlins Minehead, marking our fifth year visiting, and we honestly can't praise it enough! From start to finish, everything exceeded our expectations." A holidaymaker who just returned from a visit in June, said: "Went to Skegness Butlins over the weekend and it was amazing, the kids absolutely loved it! The place was lovely and clean, staff were extremely helpful and we can't wait to come back." Nevertheless, not everyone left with rave reviews. One less impressed visitor noted: "Decided to give Butlin's a go for half term. Overall, for us adults, everything was a bit meh except for the entertainment, which was awesome." Another positive review from Bognor mentioned: "Always things to do never get bored. Very clean apartment. New playxperience building is very good, packed with new, fun experiences. Had great fun in laser tag. Brilliant and helpful staff." All of Butlin's holiday offers can be found here, with deals available at Minehead, Bognor Regis and Skegness. Depending on the date and location, guests could also secure up to 40% discount on meal packages.
