An alcohol-fuelled brawl in the Rock Time bar in Albufeira’s Avenida Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco, ended up with the arrest of five foreigners.
An estimated 15 British tourists were causing a disturbance in the bar, according to the official police report, and the GNR was called to the scene at around 23:00 on Friday night. July 13th.
Three members of the Public Order Intervention Group rushed to the bar and were insulted and set upon by the group, claim the authorities.
Soldiers from the GNR Territorial Detachment of Albufeira, who were in the area but off-duty and not in uniform, attended the scene with uniformed colleagues and were attacked by the British, according to a source at the GNR Territorial Command in Faro speaking to news agency, Lusa.
The reinforcements soon dominated the angry scene by arresting five of the tourists, four aged 33 and one aged 30.
It is claimed that five soldiers were slightly injured in the fracas, three receiving medical treatment as a precaution should cases come to court. The five arrested men were whisked off to court the next day and were released with conditions.
UPDATE
Those close to the scene dismiss the official police report as inaccurate, claiming the bar users were just being noisy and were set upon by the police and dragged off, having committed no crime.
A further comment on this report gave a different view, albeit unconfirmed, "Tazered and battered through the night every half an hour, driven to a house half an hour away and beaten!! These men did absolutely nothing wrong and even the locals and families around can vouch for them that they were completely innocent." (See Comments, below)
