SOS Ria Formosa today created a human chain on Farol island to highlight the continuing struggle against the State’s demolition of their houses.
The islanders formed the letters SOS as a symbolic form of protest against the demolitions which the High Court last week declared can go ahead - according to the State owned company Polis which is in charge of demolitions. The injunction lodged by Olhão council is based on preserving the habitat of the rare island chameleon but it is by no means certain that the high court has ruled definitively in this complex case.
The alleged decision of the higher court allows the Polis Ria Formosa company to knock down a further 216 of the 276 buildings that Polis has declared as illegally built and situated, or so the company claims.
The islanders’ statement today reads that the human SOS was a cry for help and a protest against those who want to destroy the communities of the barrier islands, against pollution and against everything that has harmed the Ria Formosa and those that work here or those that come to enjoy the area.
Under the euphemistic ‘renaturation’ of the islands, the Polis Ria Formosa company already has demolished some houses and other buildings that it unilaterally considered as illegal, stopped only by the court action.
According to Polis, the Supreme Administrative Court judges had not accepted the chameleon argument and had rejected the injunction. The court recognised Polis’ legitimacy to demolish houses on the islands, or so says Polis whose grasp of the truth, let alone ethics, is tenuous at best.
According to Polis Ria Formosa, which should be wound up at the end of 2016, the decision of the higher court means it will carry on its controversial work despite local, national and international abhorrence at its actions.
In a statement issued to the press, Polis said that it had been notified of the judgment dated 14 April, which it claimed "did not recognise the legitimacy of the injunction to protect the environment on the pretext that the public areas and gardens of the houses serve as 'habitat' for the chameleons, a protected species, and that the injunction had tried to actually preserve individual and private interests."
The company, run by the Algarve’s public enemy number 1, Sabastião Teixeira, said that this is an end to the matter and its work will continue to rid the islands of buildings.
The situation is serious: in Farol the Polis Litoral Ria Formosa company says there are only two properties that are exempt as they are first dwellings, leaving 210 marked for demolition.
What Teixeira refuses to comment on it the situation on the mainland within the Ria Formosa natural park where houses also are occupying public maritime land and which also should be demolished, including luxury apartment blocks at Fuseta, built in contravention of planning laws and using an illegally issued building permit by Olhão council, and the luxury seaside mansion owned by the American politician John Kerry and his wife, at Fábrica.
It clearly is easier to persecute islanders than take on the might of American funded lawyers or local vested interests where suspicion of underhand payments from builders to council officials is rife.
The president of Olhão Chamber, António Pina, who participated in today’s SOS protest, said that it was "unfortunate" that Polis, created for the protection of the environment, "is the first entity that is not concerned with the environment, but with bureaucratic issues."
According to Pina, "any European citizen or institution may demand protection for the chameleon" since it is a species protected by EU directives.
The mayor recognises the need to carry out some demolition, but argues that for the threatened island settlements the same principles can be applied that were used on Armona island 30 years ago when houses sensibly were legalised.
Feliciano Júlio, president of the Associação da Ilha do Farol e Santa Maria, said that at present, the Polis Ria Formosa Society "can not make any administrative act" in the settlements of Farol or Hangares as the injunction filed by Olhão council in defence of the chameleon is still active.
"There are many things yet to be resolved, because the courts also had some difficulty in responding to this process because it was a unique process for Portugal. There is much yet to be revealed," he said, adding that he is waiting "patiently" for the Minister of the Environment to discuss the matter with the island associations.
Meanwhile, Sebastiao Teixeira at Polis continues his mis-briefings to the media while his lack of management ability continues to astound those whose lives and homes depend on some reasoned good sense, cooperation and consultation - even Olhão's mayor wonders when Teixeira's dicatotorial reign will end.
