The Algarve mayors are in danger of becoming wildly popular as they have grouped together, even Faro Mayor Rogério Bacalhau, to demand the immediate suspension of demolitions on the Algarve’s Ria Formosa islands.
At yesterday’s AMAL meeting, the mayors unanimously "decided to demand and submit to the Government a request for the immediate suspension of the demolition plan for the communities at Hangars and Farol on the island of Culatra."
In addition, AMAL has asked for the clarification of objectives of the Polis Ria Formosa society which has been crashing ahead to demolish as many properties as possible, often without respect for the law.
Several of the mayors are de facto shareholders in Polis and should know the company’s plans which when last outlined included a further year of operation but keeping demolitions low on the list of priorities.
With eviction and demolition letters in the post this week, Polis management appears incapable of telling the truth and is continuing on a path of destruction.
"The extension of operations of Polis for another year and the recent statement by the Minister of the Environment regarding the action of the government that seems little differ from the previous governing give "little reassurance” about the demolition programme so the Algarvian municipalities have decided to demand the suspension of the demolitions," explained AMAL.
The mayors require "concrete confirmations about the objectives and the action plan of Polis, as it seems its intention remains to demolish all the buildings, including communities at Hangars and Farol West which are not seafront areas.”
Apart from the demolition suspension request, the mayors decided "to reiterate the proposal that was not accepted by the previous government,” that Faro council is allowed to manage island territories in the best interest of the people that live there, just like in Olhão which controls Armona Island and where there has yet to be demolitions.
The mayors really have had enough of Polis and now want assess the adequacy of the plans and territorial management tools for the Ria Formosa natural area, taking into account the balance between protected natural resources the economic and cultural value of the island and shore-based villages.
AMAL, like the island people, urgently need some explanation, as the current sense of uncertainty among the population living on the barrier islands, where many of the buildings are at risk of demolition, is an appalling and inhumane way for the State to treat its citizens.
The mayors at last agree that the protection of the natural heritage of the Ria Formosa should run in parallel with defending the heritage and interests of those that live there.
_________________________________________
Below is a recent posting from the Olhao Livre blog
On Saturday, there was a meeting with the association of residents of Farol and Hangares of Culatra. From this meeting we ignore which are the new ways of tackling that will be implemented.
On the one hand we already know that Polis Society prepares to send letters announcing the date for a legal take possession of the houses.
It’s also known that the same society required spaces near the Olhão fishing Port and in Faro for support structures of the destruction machine. On the other hand it’s known that the licensed area from the sunset part of Farol’s island will be abandoned by the Administration of the Port of Sines, the entity that had license of the space until now.
Let’s start from the end, the left of the licensed area by the Administration of the Port of Sines, the called legal area. If this is confirmed, this licensed area will pass directly to the tutelage of the Administration of the Hydrographical Region of Algarve (ARH) that can keep or not the maintenance of parcels leased to residents. Any way, the conditions to fix a deadline for the residents to deliver the unused spaces are created, including the payment of the residues withdrawal. This means that also the houses in the called legal zone are at risk.
The administrative possession doesn’t mean, for now, that the houses will be immediately demolished, but it means that the residents can be forced to abandon them, being the same effect as demolitions. Thereby, the residents have two alternatives: the court’s appeal with new protective measures invoking equal treatment, and the refusal in receiving and even less signing the take of possession from the Polis Society. Of course that when the moment comes, the Polis Society will fix the notifications in the doors of the resident’s house accompanied with the Maritime Police.
Since the beginning of this political masterminding that we have defended the equality of treatment, not only because it is in the Code for Administrative Procedure, but also because of the 13th article of the Portuguese Constitution that says:
1- All citizens have the same social dignity and are equals in front of the law
2- Nobody can be privileged, benefited, prejudiced, deprived of any right or exempt of any duty on account of ascendance, sex, race, language, territory of origin, religion, political or ideological convictions, instruction, economic situation, social condition or sexual orientation.
See in:
http://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=4&tabela=leis&ficha=1&pagina=1&so_miolo=
In its 21st article, the Portuguese Constitution also provides the right to resist in the following terms:
Everybody have the right to resist to any order that offends their rights, liberties and guarantees and the right to repel through force any aggression, when it is not possible to appeal to a public authority.
It is evident that in this case, the public authority is in the other side of the trap, to cover the political mafia. Nobody can doubt that we live in a State where the behaviour and actions of the politicians from the power are mafia-style, since the politicians use the state as it was theirs when they say that the public policies should be done for people and with people, but they do exactly the opposite.
And it was like this that the government stated as socialist promised during the electoral campaign and now defends the opposite.
The majority of the houses were constructed in a moment where the Public Maritime Domain authority was divided between the Port Entities (Entidades Portuárias) and the Port Authorities (Capitanias de Porto), depending on the locals.
The authority of the islands was the Port Authority (Capitania de Porto) that issued the licenses for the transport of the construction materials and this entity knew the destiny of these materials, and the Port Authority cannot say that the entity didn’t know the destiny.
So, the residents of the associations have all the reason to show their indignation and revolt and offer resistance to the terrorism of the State that is in course.
FIGHT!
WITHOUT FIGHT THERE IS NO VICTORY!
