As he made a campaign trip to Faro on Saturday evening, PS leader António Costa was taken by surprise by a posse of Ria Formosa islanders, using every tactic in the book in their 11th hour bid to save their homes from demolition by environmental agency Polis Litoral.
The islanders presented Costa with one of their characteristic “Je Suis Ilhéu” tshirts and explained to him a little about their plight.
Listening intently with crowds of supporters chanting : “Islanders’ united, will never be defeated”, Costa smiled and promised he “would speak to the president of the Câmara of Faro”.
It was another full-on weekend for islanders whose highlight last week was to see Faro council
call for the immediate dismissal of Polis Litoral’s president Sebastião Teixeira (see:https://www.portugalresident.com/faro-c%C3%A2mara-calls-for-resignation-of-ria-formosa-%E2%80%9Cdemolition-man%E2%80%9D).
Earlier on Saturday, 600 of them turned up to watch a solidarity football game, put on by SC Olhanense, where all the home-team players wore the black and white “Je Suis Ilhéu” tshirts.
Judges at Loulé’s administrative court expect Polis’ response to embargos imposed against the demolition plan anytime in the coming week.
