Albufeira || Police have gone national over the bizarre new fad among visiting holidaymakers to lay bets on cop attacks.
Their appeal follows violent scenes at a rave last week where five agents were stoned as partygoers ran out of control.
According to Virgílio Ministro, president of the GNR association ANAG, “there have been lots of attacks” on officers this year – with French visitors to Albufeira being the worst offenders.
“They are individuals from the suburbs of Paris,” he told reporters. “They come to the Algarve to place bets. I have even heard of bets of €100 for anyone who can attack a police officer.”
The bets are set on determined targets, he added, from particular stations, to “increase adrenaline”.
Ministro explained the fad is worrying the service – particularly after last week’s scenes at a rave which saw five GNR officers seeking hospital treatment.
According to Público, “even last year there were stories of people attacking GNR agents in Albufeira simply for the money”.
Ministro says it is time for the authorities to come down hard, instead of handing out “meaningless sentences” that have done nothing to deter offenders.
“Anywhere else in Europe, any citizen who commits offences against security forces would be judged, condemned in an exemplary way and barred from visiting that country for four or five years,” he said. Instead, in Portugal “nothing happens”. Offenders might be taken to court, but they end up leaving without judgement and thus “it has become commonplace to attack agents of authority”.
Earlier this year, British hooligans caught up in football riots over a decade ago were finally called to “justice” in Albufeira. The case appears to have collapsed as none of the defendants turned up and it is rapidly approaching the date when prosecution, under Portuguese Law, will have run out of time.
