5 - 11 October 2017
MALLORCA
YOUR PAPER, YOUR VOICE, YOUR OPINION
Photo by MES per Mallorca/Twitter
ISSUE NO. 1683
SPLIT: Mallorca has voiced support for Cataluña’s choice.
Freedom fever Calls for island independence escalate By Matthew Elliott CRIES for Mallorcan independence rang out as thousands of people protested across the island in support of beleaguered Cataluña. A spokesman for Mallorca’s own nationalists has now said that they will push for a referendum on the island “in 2040, 2030, or even as early as 2020.” David Abril, of Mes per Mallorca, also called on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to step down after the violent suppression of Cataluna’s vote. “He has no more legitimacy,” said Abril, whose socialist and eco-minded party has long been beating the drums for Mallorcan, or Balearic, independence. The dream isn’t too far-fetched. Mes are already part of the ruling coalition in the Balearic parliament. Together with the Mallorca Greens, they command around 14 per cent of the vote. Mallorca is culturally Catalan and
Abril, like many other ambitious politicians, believes anything can happen over the coming years. Mes parliamentarians showed up in Palma wearing Tweety t-shirts in support of their Catalan comrades. The Loony Tunes canary character bizarrely featured on a large cruise ship anchored near Barcelona carrying Guardia Civil reinforcements from Madrid. On the tshirts Tweety has a speech bubble saying ‘Si’ and is waving a Catalan flag. An estimated 3,000 people gathered in Palma on Sunday night to voice support for Catalan referendum. They shouted slogans, including ‘liberty!’ and ‘independence!’ and sang the Balearic anthem. They were countered by a small group of protestors waving the Spanish flag and voicing their support of the police. Other pro-Catalan rallies took place in Manacor, Pollensa, Soller, Felanitx and Sineu, among other places.
WWW.EUROWEEKLYNEWS.COM
Nightclub boss trial goes on MAGALUF businessman Bartolome Cursach had his phone tapped by police for two years before his arrest. The transcripts of phone conversations between Cursach and his cronies turned out to be the strongest piece of evidence the police presented to convict the business owner. Between December 2014 and January 2016, Cursach, his number two Bartolome Sbert and several other associates were listened to by police as they discussed corrupt business practices and their struggle to control the Magaluf nightlife scene. Among the most incriminating revelations were discussions about whether Cursach’s lawyer could get “his friend in the Tax Agency to do what he has to do” and their plans to “wreck” a competitor in the nightlife business. As the months went on, the conversations grew sparser as Cursach and Sbert became more reluctant to talk about confidential matters over the telephone. In several conversations at the end of 2016 the entrepreneur revealed that he was aware the police were tapping his phone.
The judge suspended the licence to tap their phones in December 2016 and the police moved in for the arrest two months later. The general director of the Mallorca Tourism Board, Pilar Carbonell, also appeared on the recordings when Cursach needed her help in expanding the grounds of his Megapark business. In the phone calls, which take place between the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016, Carbonell, who is still in office, promised Cursach she would accelerate the paper work so he could proceed with his plans.