Mallorca: report logs 14 attacks on religious freedom

Fourteen alleged attacks on religious freedom were recorded across the Balearic Islands in 2025, 11 more than the previous year, according to the Observatory for Religious Freedom and Conscience. Its report groups vandalism, insults aimed at believers, political initiatives and media campaigns under that heading. Several of the documented cases are in Palma, Mallorca.

Islam and politics

The report points to several Vox initiatives concerning Islam. It cites Balearic Parliament member Sergio Rodríguez, who described Islam during a committee session as “misogynistic, homophobic and exclusionary”.

It also records his comments in a plenary debate about religious special menus in schools. The Observatory further lists Vox proposals to ban the Islamic veil in classrooms and stop Islamic religious education in state schools, alongside press coverage it classifies as attacks on Islam.

Graffiti, posters and antisemitism

Among cases involving Christians, the report lists anti-Catholic graffiti at Palma’s Virgen del Carmen parish. It also includes a Podemos-backed poster for the Sant Sebastià festivities which sexualised religious imagery and was later sold on T-shirts.

The Observatory cites remarks by MÉS per Mallorca spokesperson Lluís Apesteguia linking Christians with “macho” practices, including ear piercing and women’s hair removal. It also records a UOB union poster which crossed out a nativity scene and branded Christian symbols “dogmas, superstitions and obscurantism”.

The report includes cartoons comparing the Star of David with the swastika, as well as antisemitic graffiti in Palma’s former Jewish quarter.

Observatory calls for action

Observatory president María García called the rise an alarm signal, pointing to death threats in public spaces, graffiti on churches, antisemitism in the media and what she described as militant secularism from institutions.

The group wants the Balearic Government, Parliament, island councils and town halls to draw up a prevention plan. It also calls for public-sector staff training and stronger protection for places of worship and religious heritage, while urging politicians not to turn faith into a target for ridicule or party-political conflict.

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Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com