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Attacked in action AN Olive Press journalist has been attacked after exposing a ‘violent’ gypsy family allegedly squatting and stealing electricity. Simon Wade was chased down the street and headbutted as a young man tore off his glasses and tried robbing his camera in broad daylight on the Costa Blanca. The dedicated journalist was photographing alleged squats, next to expat homes, when the man flung open the door with chest exposed and a tattoo reading ‘I die for my family’. “My specs can be replaced, and the bruising will fade, but decent people here are living with this 24/7,” Wade said. A denuncia was made to the Civil Guard, who revealed the perpetrator was a ‘wild beast’ with a string of convictions. It comes after British resident, Ena Cummings, 53, contacted us claiming gypsies had thrown ‘dead rats’ into the Virgen del Rosario complex’s pool and repeatedly set terraces on fire. “They're stealing electricity and water,” the Formentera del Segura resident told the Olive Press. Opinion Page 6
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Vol. 13 Issue 63 www.theolivepress.es September 13th - September 26, 2019
Turn to page 7 to find out which were the biggest stories this fortnight and how to get the most up to date info
WE WON’T GO QUIETLY Expats take to streets as Boris shuts Parliament and exclusive Olive Press poll reveals unflinching Remain support EXCLUSIVE By Timothy McNulty
BORIS Johnson has managed to silence Parliament, but British expats in Spain have shown they will not be cowed into a harmful no-deal departure from the EU. Brits around the country are mobilising to oppose the shutdown and stand up for their EU rights. Protests have spread to the Costa del Sol where pro-remain campaigners are
planning a Protect Our Rights march in Malaga on September 22. It comes as an exclusive online poll by the Olive Press revealed an astonishing 73% of expats are staunchly in favour of remaining within the European Union past the October 31 deadline (Pages 6-7). The Facebook poll shows that had they been able to participate fully in the biggest ‘democratic exercise for generations’, the expat vote would have proved decisive.
Storms batter Mallorca. For full report turn to page 4
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“We are the people most affected and we didn’t get a say, that is what is most unfair,” said protest organiser Valerie Lawrence, 68, based in Torrox, near Malaga. “Most of us could not vote and postal votes went missing.” It comes after an alarming treasury report issued two weeks ago spelt extreme danger for expats in various ways. The leaked Yellowhammer document warned of issues over pensions, healthcare and crossing borders, particularly in Gibraltar. The government has since sought to downplay the warnings in the document, which was published in full on Wednesday night. Government minister Michael Gove has described them as a ‘worse case scenario’. A five-week shutdown of Parliament began on Monday, amid angry protests in the House of Commons by opposition MPs. Scuffles broke out around speaker John Bercow’s chair as Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle made a symbolic bid to pin Bercow in place late on Monday night. Commons doorkeepers intervened as other opposition MPs including Green MP Caroline Lucas held up signs emblazoned with the words ‘silenced’ amid cries of ‘shame’. Johnson has claimed the government will use the suspension to press ahead
COUP: Protesting MPs surround Speaker Bercow with negotiations with the EU to reach a deal, while still ‘preparing to leave without one’. “No matter how many devices this Parliament invents to tie my hands, I will strive to get an agreement in the national interest,” he said. “This government will not delay Brexit any further.” The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told MEPs that he had yet to see grounds upon which to reopen the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Meanwhile, the UK PM was warned he could face legal action if he chooses to ignore new legislation passed by Parliament blocking a no-deal Brexit. The law received royal assent on Monday and forces Johnson to seek a delay until January 31 2020, unless MPs approval a deal by October 19 (See Brexit countdown, page 6). Opinion Page 6
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SPAIN’S listeria outbreak, which has killed three people, has now reached Mallorca, the Ministry of Health confirmed. A cancer patient, the first reported to have caught the virus on the island, is recovering in a private clinic in Palma. It comes after samples of the bacteria were sent to be tested in Madrid to confirm if it is the same strain as the recent outbreak in Andalucia. Continues on Page 18