RAINBOW’S END

Hundreds of Rainbow Family hippies kicked out of ‘bizarre’ illegal nature park festival

HUNDREDS of hippies, many from northern Europe, have been evicted from one of Andalucia’s most protected natural parks.

The members of the so-called Rainbow Family were illegally camping for the impromptu festival high in the Sierra de Grazalema.

The group, who previously lived in northern Spain, had decamped to the inaccessible site for the ‘sacred fire’ bash, which coincided with the lunar cycle.

The cult-like hippies - who had set a number of illegal fires, despite the dangerous drought conditions - had squatted on land owned by a local livestock farmer.

“There were about 200 of them and it took 100 of our officers to

By Alberto Lejarraga

evict them,” a policeman from the Guardia Civil told the Olive Press

During the complicated operation, the officers had to park in the village of Benaocaz and then walk ‘over an hour’ to the site.

“It was totally inaccessible by car,” added the cop, who participated in the eviction. He explained they had taken the extreme step due to the ‘high risk’ of fire and after both the owner and park authorities put in official denuncias

“The estate is used for the stockbreeding of goats, but this group had simply broken through the fences allowing the animals to escape.”

’Allo ’Allo

The agent continued: “They had set many fires, a major one, which they call ‘the sacred fire’, and several others around the site.

“It was really dangerous particularly as we are talking about a highly protected area of valuable trees which cannot be accessed by fire engines.”

He added the operation had ‘lasted hours’ as a number of the group attempted to prolong it as much as they could and some refused to leave.

“When we arrived many of them grabbed their backpacks

FRENCH and Italian police will be out patrolling the streets of Benidorm and Alicante this summer. They will accompany Spain’s Policia Nacional keeping the peace in tourist hot spots as part of the European Commissaries project which has run since 2008. Spain and France pioneered the initiative with Portugal, Italy, and Germany joining during subsequent years. Patrols will be mainly conducted on foot in areas with a high influx of tourists to act as a deterrent against crime. They will also help visitors from their home countries with translation and provide support in filing any crime reports.