"Belief, and the Will to Win"

Portugal Claims Olivença Webmaster's Introduction Latest News/Última Página "de Jure" Map of Portugal Portuguese Army Map and Olivença Flag Olivença Timeline Treaty of Alcanizes/Tratado de Alcanizes Treaties Galore War of the Oranges Forgotten Alentejo-Map of Olivença Great Britain and Olivença Gibraltar and Olivença National Press/Imprensa Nacional International Media Opinião Portuguesa OlivençaNet/GAO Forum Olivença 1000 Year Overview Archive Guestbook Point of View/Ponto de Vista Questions &Answers Olivença/Portugal Livre "Crer e Querer para Vencer"

Forum Olivença Manifesto Portugal OlivencaOnline Informação Olivença Campanha por Olivença Imigrantes Spanish Police Detain and Insult Members of GAO On 9 February, as the EU Foreign Affairs Ministers Summit was held in Cáceres, a Delegation of the Grupo dos Amigos de Olivença (GAO) attempted to hand out some leaflets in the vicinity of the San Francisco Cultural Complex, where the meeting was taking place; an 'Open Letter', to the 15 responsible for European Diplomacy and a 'Communique to the Peoples of Europe', written in Portuguese, English, Spanish and French, reminded them of the illegality of the Spanish occupation of Olivença. But, a strong police presence, that only allowed access to the building to accredited people, stopped that objective being realised. After the Press Conference, some members of GAO standing about 20-30 metres from the police barrier, started to hand out the referred leaflets to the passing journalists. More than half an hour went by, and 2 policemen asked that they be given some of the text. Then, after a few minutes, 3 members of GAO were approached by another policeman who aggressively asked them for their identification and thoroughly examined their identification documents. Afterwards, citing law 1/92, about the security of citizens, he gave orders to stop the distribution of the 'Open Letter' and the 'Communique'. The members of GAO suspended handing out the leaflets to the journalists immediately and decided to abandon the area. Walking round by the 'Ronda de San Francisco', on their way back home, several police cars burst on the scene, and about 30 police agents surrounded the 3 members of GAO, compelling them to put their hands up next to a wall. They were then put inside a grilled metal cage, in the street, and had their identification documents taken away. Meanwhile, GAO's solicitor, Dr José Dinis Marques arrived, who asked for an explanation about what happened. He was also detained, and put inside the metal grill cage. Almost at the same time a reporter for RTP (Portuguese National Television) Cesário Borga was passing by, who was aggressively removed from the area. And the act continued, the police who had the detainees with their hands in the air, told them to stand in a less scandalous position and started to stop the journalists passing by and diverted them to another street. One of the policemen, precisely the one who was in charge of the operation, started to insult one of the members of GAO - the ex-President of the Association -,calling him "clown" and "imbecile" and affirmed that if the Portuguese claimed Olivença, the Spanish could also claim the County Portucalense. The members of GAO were detained over half an hour, 15 minutes of which with their hands up. After the arrival of plain clothed men, possibly from the information service, and following several telephone calls, the police released those detained. Only the information agents stayed talking with the members of GAO, and tried to offer excuses for the incident and to establish cordial conversation. Afterwards, the GAO members who had been detained went to the local police station, where they lodged a complaint against their illegal detention, and against their insults and humiliation to which they had been victims. Later, the GAO Vice-President, António Marques, described the incident as "shocking". Source: Informação OlivençaNet