ISSUE NO. 1638
24 - 30 November 2016
Stop Press
COSTA DE ALMERÍA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
DON’T MISS OUR PROPERTY SPECIAL INSIDE! (PULL OUT) PAGES 37 - 44
Off the rails
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Missing student THE authorities have yet to find a student who attacked a teacher at Almeria City’s Galileo secondary school in Pescaderia district last week before disappearing. Members of the school community reported that the second year student punched his French teacher in the face after inSee page 4 sulting and trying to embarrass her.
To the rescue GUARDIA CIVIL officers came to the rescue last week when a 62-year-old man who was paragliding lost control, plunged into the sea and was unable to get
out. Upon approaching the officers realised the elderly man was unable to extract himself from his equipment as the ropes had got tangled round his feet. See page 8
Fowl character A MAN from Pulpi has been given a two-year jail sentence and a fine for stealing 158 birds from farms in the area between April 18 and May 8 this year. Almeria’s number five criminal court found the defendant guilty of theft of chickens, hens, pigeons, turkeys, peacocks and other birds along with three goats and a dog, all of which he took to his own See page 14 private farm in the town. By Eleanor Hawkins & Matt Ford More than 600 people staged a demonstration in protest at the continuing paralysis over Almeria’s multi-million euro deal to build a high speed AVE train connection. The rally was the culmination of a tumultuous week for the ill-fated project during which Sacyr, the engineering firm tasked with constructing the 12.5km stretch of line, announced its intention to pull out of the deal. It has had to contend with delays to the project including the revelation that stretches of the land previously earmarked for construction between Cuevas de Almanzora and Pulpi have not yet been officially appropriated. It is understood the railway
infrastructure company ADIF has not stipulated whether the plans should include a single or double line track. The protesters have been calling for the line to be built in the hope of increasing economic activity in the region and boosting employment. The mayor of Pulpi was among the protesters on Tuesday November 22, calling for an end to the delays in a project which at one stage was halted when construction work was thought to be threatening the habitat
Aid for animals of an endangered species of reptile. It turns out the habitat of the spur-thighed tortoise extends much further than the Pulpi and Cuevas areas. The tortoises are also present in many areas of the Cabreras hills and southeastern Murcia. ADIF has been keen not to be seen as the cause of the new delays, promising that paperwork sanctioning expropriation
of the land has been completed. Despite its pledges, the issue seems set to drag on beyond the four-year target set by the newly-incumbent national government. Such promises have also failed to pacify the protesters who claim the Public Works Ministry must “stop their excuses” and get on with the job in hand.
THE Socialist group within Almeria Provincial Council has proposed an extension of the provincial budget for abandoned animals to allow villages with be-
tween 2,000 and 5,000 inhabitants to be included. All municipalities with more than 2,000 residents are currently obliged to See page 64 cover their costs.