A team from Polis Litoral Ria Formosa landed on Culatra early this morning, along with 40 Maritime Policemen in case there was any trouble in seizing 22 island properties prior to their demolition.Of the properties due to have their walls daubed with numbers, signifying possession by the State, only eight legally could be processed as Loulé court had accepted embargos lodged by 14 property owners.
"It's another small victory while we wait for this whole process to be suspended," commented José Lezinho, president of the Hangares Residents Association.
Polis Litoral Ria Formosa, the agency which effortlessly triggers anger and ill-feeling among islanders and their multitude of supporters, had planned to take possession of 22 houses: 12 in the settlement of Farol and 10 in Hangars. Polis technicians only managed to daub eight houses with their trademark blue paint, because eight embargoes had been accepted for houses on Farol and six on Hangars.
Polis managers were met by several dozen vociferous protesters in spirited opposition, but no violence, as this would not serve the residents’ aims while negotiations, of a sort, continue with the minister of the environment with the promise of involvement on the design of a new coastal plan that should see these settlements regularised once and for all.
The eight houses that Polis did managed to take possession of, will be demolished on Wednesday by contractors who in the past have left building materials ground into the sand, including fragments of asbestos roofing.
According to the ministry of the environment, buildings within 40-metres of the water line on the Ria Formosa side of the islands, except for the first habitation or properties that belong to fishermen, nursery or shell-fishermen, are considered illegal.
"We are moderately satisfied, but this is all very tiresome, people are here in a state of great anxiety. I must tell you that for more than 40 years we have been struggling to legalise these houses: tacitly, the Portuguese State gave hope to people by putting in water, sanitation, and electricity," explained Feliciano Júlio, adding that these are not "clandestine houses," they are "houses that do not have a licence but were built in plain view of everybody, with the consent of the authorities at the time, the GNR and the Port Captaincy, which gave authorisations."
Polis has been in charge of the process of 'renaturalisation' of the Ria Formosa islands and, since 2014, its managers have dedicated their time to ensuring the demolition of properties, a number of which have been identified as second homes within the public maritime domain.
Feliciano Júlio said that among the houses marked for demolition by Polis, one is a first habitation located in Hangars and lived in by a young woman who could not afford to lodge a legal action at Loulé court,
"They're going to demolish the girl's house, she has nowhere to go. This is not justified in the 21st century. They will make her homeless."
