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Vol. 13 Issue 319 www.theolivepress.es June 5th - June 18th 2019
Outrage as millions of protected birds are killed and secretly served up in restaurants across Andalucia PALS: Fans in Madrid
Walk in the park THE largest police operation in Spanish sporting history has ended successfully in Madrid. A combination of restrained policing and good-natured fans turned a potential Champions League final nightmare into a game of cricket in the capital. The statistics are nothing short of amazing. As the huge clear up operation got underway on Monday morning, it emerged that only 11 arrests were made out of an estimated 100,000-plus British fans who descended on the capital at the weekend. The 4,700 cops tasked with the job of policing the all-British final generally behaved admirably, in comparison to their counterparts in Sevilla and Barcelona over recent years.
Hooliganism
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A SHOCKING two-and-a-half million birds are killed in Andalucia every year during the olive harvest. Millions more songbirds get vacuumed into machinery during intensive night-time harvesting across Spain and Portugal. Birds including goldfinches, greenfinches and wagtails are among the worst affected during the harvest season between October and January. At least 17 species are affected by the practice, which was brought to light by an Ecologistas en Accion study in January 2018. The green group estimated that 100 birds were being killed per hectare of farmed land, leading to around 2.6 million dead birds per season, just in Andalucia.
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E might be getting nudged out of Real Madrid, but Gareth EXCLUSIVE Bale is strengthening his ties to along the famous Golden Mile, which southern Spain. features other celebrity homeowners, The much-maligned Welsh wizard including ex-England midfielder Tim has spent a small fortune on a new Sherwood. property on the Costa del Sol, despite The penthouse is just a 20-minute drive expectation of his return to the UK this from Finca Cortesin, the luxury golf summer. resort in Casares where Bale, 29, loves The Olive Press can reveal the striker, to tee up and has stayed at several times who signed for Los Blancos for €100 over the last few years. million six years ago from Tottenham, He knows La Trinidad well as he has has snapped up a stunning three-bestayed at his agent Jonathan Barnett’s droom apartment in Marbella for just home in the urbanisation a number under €2 million. of times. The purchase comes after Bale The Welshman managed to knock threatened to ‘stay and play golf’ if around 10% off the price of the properthe remainder of his Real contract is not ty, which was on the market for around paid. The father-of-three said: “I’ve got €2.2 million. three years left on my contract. If they According to sources closely linked to want me to go, they’ll need to pay me the deal, the modern pad is situated in €17 million per season. If not, I’ll stay the exclusive La Trinidad urbanisation here. And if I have to play golf, I will.”
VICTORY LOOMS
AROUND 300,000 owners of illegal homes Andalucia need no longer fear the Junta’s in happened several times before. Meanwhile, a secbull- ond proposal aims to toughen dozers thanks to plans to speed up the legalisa- inspection once the royal decree sanctioning and tion process. is in place illegal homes are less likely to built in the so that While a royal decree addressing property future. ularities is still being drafted, these new irreg- The objective of the fast track scheme is to sures allow homeowners more stability. mea- continue ‘without as many obstacles as before’, according to Marifran Carazo, Andalucia’s The main aim is to grant more properties new - Minister of Public Works. many of them expat-owned - AFO status (asim- It comes after the President ilado fuera de ordenacion). of Spain’s most southerly region, Juanma Moreno, This gives houses ‘semi-legality’, saving outlined from being demolished by the Junta whichthem modifications to the Andalucia planning law has (LOUA), giving owners of illegal homes a ‘sec- HELP: Graffiti for homeowners
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ond chance’. “We can’t have 300,000 illegal homes in Andalucia,” the PP leader said, adding that around of illegal properties would be regularised. 90% Maura Hillen, president of illegal homes group AUAN, also told the Olive Press action believed a ‘precedent’ had been set in thethat she case of a British couple. Expat pensioners Noel and Christine emerged victorious after a 16-year legal Payne over their illegal home in Albox, which battle described as a ‘positive’ sign of the future.Hillen
CRUSHED: (Left) Greenfinches and (far right) Wagtails are being slaughtered by olive farming The shocking statistics confirmed by the Guardia Civil’s environmental arm Seprona, are now being probed
Robbie’s return
IT will go down as the greatest reunion of the year. Robbie Williams is set to rejoin Take That at a headline show in Gibraltar this summer, the Olive Press can reveal. He will be reunited with his former bandmates at Gibraltar Calling Festival in September. Organiser Richard Coram revealed to the Olive Press this week that ‘Robbie Williams is definitely involved’. He added: “I can give you the heads up that he will be involved in one way or another.” The former frontman left the band in 2016, so it would be a timely return. Half of the tickets to the festival have already been sold, with many more acts to be added to the bill, that already includes Liam Gallagher and Mel C.
by the Junta. The Sevilla-based body is now under pressure to outlaw the practice of night harvesting, since publishing a report on the problem in October. Worse still, tens of thousands of the birds are being sold to restaurants as a dish, long popular in inland Andalucia. The dish - known as pajarito frito has been outlawed for many years, especially when the birds in question are endangered species. “This practice is illegal and highly condemned due to a lack of sufficient health guarantees for public health,” said a Junta spokesman this week. No charges have yet been brought against any farmers or hotels, however the Junta confirmed it was looking at banning ‘super-intensive’ harvesting at night. “It will prevent migratory birds from being caught by the machine’s spotlights,” he added.
"It is a real problem, with pressing and serious environmental repercussions, which transcend the national and geographical limits of Andalucia.” Pressure has grown on Spain, after a number of British supermarkets confirmed they are also probing the practice with an eye on banning olives or olive oil produced in this way. Tesco confirmed it was investigating how olives are collected for its oils after many buyers expressed concerns, following the publication of the report in journal Nature last week. "We're currently looking into how we pick these olives so, by the time it comes to harvest them, all the necessary changes will have been made," said a spokesman. Numerous olive oil firms in Spain the world’s biggest producer of what is termed ‘liquid gold’ - harvest at night as the cooler temperatures better preserve the aroma of the olives. The issue is the bright lights of the tractors, which dazzle the sleeping birds leading to many being sucked into the machinery and crushed. The issue is not a problem during the day. Global olive oil brand Filippo Berio, which offers oil from Spain and Italy among many other countries, confirmed it would be checking its produce. “We will keep consumers upwww.mosquitonick.ws dated as and when we have nick@mosquitonick.ws more information."
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Song of sorrow
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Their aim was to contain the big groups of rival fans from Liverpool and Tottenham, the vast majority who arrived without tickets and many without accomodation. Far from the feared predictions of widespread ‘hooliganism’ in the Spanish press, the weekend, passed off almost entirely without incident. “The fear of hooliganism has been just that; fear, as the British fans behaved with enthusiasm and cordiality,” reported El Confidencial. With the exception of a few idiots, the
By Deirdre Tynan
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