The demolitions planned for the Ria Formosa islands were debated in Parliament on Thursday with the The Greens (PEV) appealing to the Government to include the island people in the process.
"We have an obligation to take a decision in which the Government is compelled by Parliament to at least take into account the views of the people," said Heloisa Apolónia.
Portugal’s Communist Party finally has submitted a formal petition to parliament aimed at halting the property demolitions in the Algarve's Ria Formosa area that currently threaten the islanders of Culatra.
The petition went to parliament on Thursday October 20th, and it will be discussed during the afternoon of October 27th which is the day the new wave of demolitions is due to start, bright and early, led by Polis Ria Formosa president, 'Demolition Man' Sebastião Teixeira.
During a public address about the demolitions on the Ria Formosa islands, Communist Party MP Paulo Sá said that the Polis Ria Formosa company has acted independently of government when it recently issued 81 demolition notices and that its chief, Sebastião Teixeira, should be fired.
Paulo Sá address a home crowd in Olhão on Saturday morning and stated that his party was fully behind the islanders in their struggle against the State machine that wants to clear away island properties using an ever-changing variety of reasons.
Left Bloc MP João Vasconcelos (pictured) went on a six hour walk-about on Culatra last weekend and his subsequent report has led to his party presenting a formal resolution to parliament that would halt all demolitions planned for the island settlements.
According to the Left Bloc, the demolition programme initiated last year by the Polis Literal Ria Formosa company "is maladjusted to reality, leaving those caught in its destructive path as homeless or having to live in deplorable conditions."
Portugal's embattled Minister for the Environment, João Pedro Fernandes, was back in the Algarve today to release two eagles at the Sagres Bird Festival while simultaneously smiling for the cameras, (see picture below).
No doubt wishing to put the events of last week behind him, as the recriminiations resulting from his ill-timed 'Ria Formosa demolitions' statement to parliament echo across the Algarve, Fernandes was tracked down by a doughty group of 150 Ria Formosa islanders and presented with their well-considered and viable 'plan for the future' to preserve the islands and the islanders' way of life while modernising and supporting areas that have been ignored for so long.
The truth behind the Ria Formosa island clearance may soon be revealed in the form of a model.
At the Social Democrat Party’s annual ‘Festa do Pontal’ bash in Quarteira, at the end of the summer of 2014, a select few of the party’s hierarchy were shown a maquette, or model, of a high-quality tourism development and marina planned at Farol on the southern side of Culatra island.
The president of Polis Ria Formosa, ‘demolition man’ Sebastião Teixeira, signed and demolition notices to 81 properties on the island of Culatra without informing his boss, environment minister João Matos Fernandes.
The Communist Party's Paulo Sá says Sebastião Teixeira must be dismissed, a view shared by many ‘close to the issue’ of these pernicious island clearances.
In a cynical and abusive betrayal, Ria Formosa islanders on Farol have been issued with eviction notices as their representatives prepare for tomorrow’s meeting in Lisbon where they are to present their case to a cross-party parliamentary commission.
This meeting follows a petition submitted to parliament on January 20th aimed at the "preservation of the Ria Formosa and immediate suspension of demolitions." So far 374 buildings have been demolished with plans to remove a further 500.
