appy H Gibraltar NATIONAL Day
THE founder of National Day has revealed how the idea was formed by accident. In an exclusive interview, Sir Joe Bossano told the Olive Press how the idea came when he was Chief Minister. It came out of a rally organised in the Piazza before going to the UN for self-determination status in 1992. But, as it happened to be the 25th year since the famous 1967 referendum, it quickly gathered steam. “People spontaneously turned up dressed in the national colours and in numbers we had not expected,” he revealed. “Given that response, it seemed to me as the minister, that we had touched a chord in the people’s perception of their own identity. “It was too important to only do it once every 25 years, so we created it officially on September 10 and called it the National Day rally.”
OLIVE PRESS
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Vol. 5 Issue 130 www.theolivepress.es September 2nd - September 15th 2020
Black lagoon
Celebration
Bossano believes the celebration is still linked to the desire of Gibraltar to be recognised as a people in their own right by the United Nations. Gibraltar is regularly attacked by Spanish diplomats at the UN with the Committee of 24 tending to agree with them after they put in a lot of lobbying. On whether Gibraltar could ever become a state in its own right he said ‘nothing is impossible’. Some commentators have said that it is the resistance to Spain that has formed that identity, but he believes it is not the only reason, “I believe the hostility of Spain has been a factor which helps us to close ranks to protect our identity and defend our homeland,” he added.
INCINERATED: All that remains of Puro Beach after the devastating blaze
Luxury commercial centre gutted in weekend wildfire
See National Day celebrations on page 12
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SCORCHED and charred, this is the devastation left by a ravaging wildfire that left a popular Costa del Sol commercial centre in ashes. Estepona’s Laguna Village - which housed around 20 shops and restaurants - was completely gutted by the dramatic blaze, which ripped through it in little over an hour on Saturday. Eerie photographs show the moment the flames took hold, as intense weather conditions propelled a mega-blaze from nearby scrubland across the busy A-7 motorway. Meanwhile, dramatic videos showed the moment that families, many eating lunch, rushed out in panic, some screaming for their children. According to neighbours the fire began close to the former Prado World waterpark, leaving burnt-out fields covered in ash, a charred electricity line and the
By Kirsty McKenzie
rubble of destroyed homes. On top of the hill overlooking the motorway, a finca crumbled, blackened with soot.
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Culprits
Exhausted firefighters had to work through the night after the out-of-control fire tore down both sides of the A-7 motorway, leaving a path of destruction in the Rio Padron area. A couple have now been charged with gross negligence, property damage and theft, after they allegedly caused the fire by illegally tapping into overhead electricity cables. The Spanish man and woman, 43 and 51, had been living in a shack close to the motorway, near a riding stables. Police revealed that the fire was most likely caused when an See page 16 electrical appliance malfunctioned in their home, causing a spark to start the fire.