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Parents divided EXPAT parents are completely split over whether it is the right time for children to return to school. An Olive Press reader survey shows that mums and dads are unsure whether September is too soon to send pupils back to the classroom. In our online poll, we asked readers to share how they felt about schools reopening for the first time since March. Exactly half said they were happy for their children to be back with their teachers and peers while the rest wanted a vaccine before they let their sons and daughters return.
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And while not all parents want to keep their little ones at home, 56% said that they did not feel their child would be safe on their return. A whopping 83% agreed that social distancing would be impossible to maintain in the classrooms and 78% thought all children should be made to wear masks at school. Ominously, just 28% of parents said it was likely that pupils would be able to complete a full school year. Spanish education officials have for weeks been debating how to get pupils safely back to school this month for in-person classes. Opinion Page 6
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RESCUED: Banksy says EU officials are ignoring the mercy mission BANKSY has accused European officials of deliberately ignoring distress signals after a refugee rescue boat he financed was left stranded in the Med. The iconic artist hit out after his new mercy vessel, launched from Valencia in August, failed to receive any help when it came close to sinking, overloaded with over 200 refugees. It came after the ship captain made a distress call after it became marooned due to overloading, with many of the refugees ill and one already dead. The British street artist took to social media to attack the slow response saying that ‘EU authorities deliberately ignored the pleas from non-Europeans’. The 31-metre rescue vessel Louise Michel, named after a 19th century French anarchist, set sail in secrecy from Burriana, near Castellon, on August 18. Its aim is to save refugees making the dangerous sea crossing from
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North Africa to Europe. “Like most people who make it in the art world, I bought a yacht to cruise the Med,” Banksy posted online, accompanied by a video of the ship mixed in with footage of people stranded at sea. “Because EU authorities deliberately ignore distress calls from ’non-Europeans’,” he continued. “All Black Lives Matter.” But within weeks of launching, his ship, es-
timated to have cost €950,000, it also found itself in trouble off the Sicilian island of Lampedusa. After floundering for hours with 219 refugees on board, Italian coastguards and charity Sea-Watch finally stepped in to save the day, last week. A coastguard motor vessel took 49 of the most vulnerable travellers to the island of Lampedusa, while Sea-Watch 4 took the rest to Palermo, where they were eventually given sanctuary. The Louise Michel is hard to miss, painted bright pink with a trademark Banksy mural on the boat’s PLUMBING & AIR CONDITIONING SPECIALISTS hull, depicting a girl in a life vest holding a heart-shaped safety EAS Electric 25 basic buoy. SPECIAL Inverter hot and cold A++ It sails under a Ger* OFFER man flag and is capStandard installation tained by a professional crew of 10 555€ (inc IVA) European activists with a ‘flat hierarchy *Available to Olive Press readers, Simply call and mention Olive Press and a vegan diet’. The motor yacht, formerAir Conditioning | Bathroom Fitting ly owned by French customs authorities, Gas and Oil Central Heating | Electrics Certification & Inspection | Pool | Solar Energy
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is smaller but considerably faster than other NGO rescue vessels. It is capable of reaching speeds of 28 knots. The planning of its latest mission was carried out in secrecy between London, Berlin and Burriana, where the Louise Michel had docked to be equipped for sea rescues. The crew feared that media attention could compromise their goals. If word had circulated that a project financed by Banksy would set to sea to rescue migrants, the European authorities could have attempted to thwart the mission. A spokesman for Burriana’s port confirmed that the Louise Michel docked there on June 23 and left on August 18.
Gay
“During this time, they have been repairing and preparing the boat but they did it by themselves, they did not use the port services”, he said. Referring to Banksy, he added: “If he has been here, he came incognito,” the official said. Burriana, which has 34000 residents is best known for its Arenal music festival each summer. Locals in the town had no idea what its planned mission was, but they dubbed it ‘Orgullo gay’ or ‘Proud to be gay’. Opinion Page 6
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