This is the utterly foreseeable consequence of the HN-funded Airbnb, which effectively lets rich tourists drive up the cost of living of city residents.
This does not justify attacking peaceful people who are minding their own business and having dinner.
In fact, in my jurisdiction this would be common assault.
Also, "rich tourists"... On the contrary. The number of tourists across Europe has exploded because very cheap flights and available and cheap accommodation means that, for instance, spending a couple of days in Barcelona has become extremely cheap and affordable to all, and all can be arranged from one's smartphone, indeed. When tourism was only for "rich people" there was no problem at all and Tom Ripley was very welcome everywhere ;)
Example: Ryanair has flights from London to Perpignan (in France, across the border from Barcelona) in July starting at £35 one way... Barcelona seems more in demand so it's a whole £65...
You call the police reporting that you're being assaulted. They will show up. The assault will stop. Now, I agree they might just tell people off with no arrest but that really demands on mood, behaviour of people, location, and indeed damages to property.
Well, I am sorry that policing in your area is poor... But perhaps an actual crime in progress would elicit a different response.
I have called the police twice in recent years, once for a road traffic accident in my street and once for road rage and they showed up in under 5 minutes (UK). It's not possible to generalise, but I suspect that a report of an assault in progress should get a quick response (maybe don't mention the water guns too much ;) )
I'd shift the blame somewhat on the owners of the Airbnb properties and Airbnb itself rather than the tourists. They're the ones getting rich at the expense of the locals.
I remember residents there and other places of Europe were upset about tourists far before airbnb was a major thing, like this article not limited to 2017 (although airbnb is mentioned, this goes back a long time):
And it manifests itself as anti-immigration, too, as evidenced by elections in nearly every country.
Mortgage financing and infrastructure, at least here in Canada, was designed to help get people into home ownership. Over the past 10 years that's turned into cheap, easy leverage to become a landlord.
