Dozens of animal lovers have descended on Mijas to protest against the controversial donkey taxis.
The demonstration, organised by animal rights party PACMA and other local groups, kicked off at 11am on Sunday.
Protesters were seen donning donkey masks while holding up placards and chanting slogans.
One sign read in English: ‘Suffering should not be anyone’s business.’
In one video, a horse carriage can be seen traveling past the protesters while carrying two tourists.
The demonstrators can be heard chanting ‘verguenza’, meaning ‘shame’, in the driver’s direction.
The clearly agitated man furiously puts his middle finger up to the protesters while driving past.
The demonstration was first announced in a video shared by PACMA Malaga on Instagram last month.
The clip lamented the ‘miserable life of the exploited donkeys of Mijas.’
‘Used for tourism and obliged to support heavy weights,’ it added.
‘Spending hours in the sun, tied up with short ropes without food or water.’
The video said the animals develop symptoms of stress as it showed one donkey hitting its face against the wall.
‘Forced to work 365 days per year,’ it claimed, ‘when they are not working, they live in overcrowded, filthy stables… they can never lay down.’
It concludes: ‘Do you think this is a life for an animal? This abuse must end!’
PACMA has repeatedly denounced Mijas town hall over the tourist activity.
Tensions mounted last year when a British tourist filmed the donkeys suffering in the sweltering summer heat.
The local government brought in new rules to crackdown on abusive practices, but they have done little to quell calls for the trade to be outlawed altogether.
