Wandering Off Topic

[The General]

By DEAN E. MURPHY
OCT. 21, 1996 12 AM

1996.....

[Brietta]

I notice no-one ever gets excited about the sightings in the UK, of which there were plenty in Appenso 5

Yeah ... seems to be a conspiracy ... complete with bank guard, ice cream vendor, Guardian journalist et al 😎😎😎

Snip
The father of a young blonde girl who appeared on film on August 4 came forward to explain that his daughter was not the missing girl.

Lieve Pellens, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said: “He saw this picture and obviously for him it was very easy recognising the girl ... "
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2545633/Madeleine-McCann-Brussels-sighting-dismissed.html


Snip
The youngster was in Brussels with a North African-looking woman who bought her a chocolate ice cream - Madeleine's favourite - from a street vendor.

The sighting on Monday last week occurred around the time the pair were picked up on CCTV footage by a security guard at a nearby bank.

Antonio Migliardi, who sold them the ice cream, said the woman was "very severe" with the child.

"he held her hand firmly and kept pulling her closer.

"When I gave the ice cream to the child she stood frozen. The lady took it in her place," said Mr Migliardi, 44.

"Normally a happy child always takes the ice. This was not a normal situation."

He said the girl was around five years old with blonde hair and distinctive mark in her eye.

"The little girl looked healthy but very sad. She had her eyes towards the floor and was too shy to look up.

"The lady asked her in a mixture of French and English what she wanted.

"The girl answered in English. She looked up for only a second, with an unhappy face, and said, 'Chocolate please'. then she looked down again," he said.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2544450/Madeleine-McCann-seen-again-in-Brussels.html#:~:targetText=A%20girl%20resembling%20Madeleine%20McCann,sighting%2C%20it%20has%20been%20reported.&targetText=The%20youngster%20was%20in%20Brussels,favourite%20%2D%20from%20a%20street%20vendor.

[Brietta]

In the UK all they had to do was get a job looking after unfortunate children.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/oct/09/sarahhall
https://www.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/meet-billericay-author-who-overcame-1671738

                   ... and the relevance of your post is ???

[jassi]

You obviously didn't bother to read the link I provided ... here is another one which may be more to your liking?

300,000 Protest Belgium’s Handling of Pedophile Case
By DEAN E. MURPHY
OCT. 21, 1996 12 AM
TIMES STAFF WRITER

BRUSSELS —  Capping an extraordinary week of public demonstrations, about 300,000 people marched through the streets of the Belgian capital Sunday to protest the authorities’ handling of a highly charged pedophile scandal and to draw attention to the unknown fate of about 10 missing children.
________________________________________________________

Authorities said the orderly and sometimes teary crowd, carrying white flowers and balloons as symbols of innocence and purity, was among the largest in Belgian history. It surpassed the size of protests during the tense Cold War years of the early 1980s, when peace activists across Europe took to the streets to oppose the deployment of U.S. missiles on the Continent.
________________________________________________________

Even veterans of other demonstrations--including the legendary social upheavals of 1968--said none carried the moral grounding and genuine grass-roots concern that presided at Sunday’s event like the guiding hand of a watchful parent.
________________________________________________________

But the inward questioning has been increasingly overshadowed by intense rage toward the country’s political and judicial systems, which have come under scrutiny because of allegations of incompetence, corruption and complicity in the pedophile case. Recently, there have been reports in the Belgian media that investigators are pursuing evidence that might link senior political figures to Dutroux.

The enormous public anger began spilling into the streets last week when a respected state investigator was removed from the case by the country’s top court.
________________________________________________________

Auto workers blocked roads. Bus drivers refused to drive. Postal workers delivered sacks of spaghetti to judicial officials. And firefighters in Liege, where much of the scandal has been centered, turned their water jets on the Palace of Justice.

“When justice goes bad, people have to do what they have to do, just like in the old times,” said Johan, a 28-year-old unemployed construction worker who would not give his last name because he is related to a main suspect in the pedophile case.

“If you are going to rule by the letter of the law, then it should be that way for everyone, not just working Belgians with no political connections.”

The political fallout has not been lost on the country’s rulers. In a rare break with accepted protocol limiting his involvement in politics, Belgian King Albert II hosted a seminar on child abuse Friday, during which he called for a “moral revival and a profound change in our country.”
________________________________________________________

After the rally on Sunday, Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene met with leaders of the protest, promising to push for several significant reforms in the Belgian justice system that could make a repeat of the Dutroux affair less likely, including depoliticizing the method for choosing magistrates.

The prime minister also pledged that the Dutroux investigation will be pursued “to its end” without any political interference and that disciplinary action will be taken against anyone found to have bungled the case.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-21-mn-56209-story.html
________________________________________________________



Please don't bother to assume anything about my unstated opinions.  Rather pay some attention to the opinions of the people most directly affected by corruption and or incompetence and in this case spare a thought for the murdered children the two who were starved to death and those missing with no-one knowing their fate.

I don't read 90% of what you cut & paste as its of no interest to me. 

[Brietta]

1996.....

... and ? ? ?

[The General]

... and ? ? ?

And what?

[Brietta]

I don't read 90% of what you cut & paste as its of no interest to me. 

I did not cut and paste the link which I provided.  Hardly surprising that I find your posts contain so little of substance if you are not interested or bothered in keeping up with the information which informs debate.

[The General]

I did not cut and paste the link which I provided.  Hardly surprising that I find your posts contain so little of substance if you are not interested or bothered in keeping up with the information which informs debate.

You provided a story from the last century. I understand you would have been well in to middle age in 1996, but have some consideration for us youngsters who were still sniffing glue outside the youth club at that point.

[G-Unit]

Yeah ... seems to be a conspiracy ... complete with bank guard, ice cream vendor, Guardian journalist et al 😎😎😎

Snip
The father of a young blonde girl who appeared on film on August 4 came forward to explain that his daughter was not the missing girl.

Lieve Pellens, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office, said: “He saw this picture and obviously for him it was very easy recognising the girl ... "
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2545633/Madeleine-McCann-Brussels-sighting-dismissed.html


Snip
The youngster was in Brussels with a North African-looking woman who bought her a chocolate ice cream - Madeleine's favourite - from a street vendor.

The sighting on Monday last week occurred around the time the pair were picked up on CCTV footage by a security guard at a nearby bank.

Antonio Migliardi, who sold them the ice cream, said the woman was "very severe" with the child.

"he held her hand firmly and kept pulling her closer.

"When I gave the ice cream to the child she stood frozen. The lady took it in her place," said Mr Migliardi, 44.

"Normally a happy child always takes the ice. This was not a normal situation."

He said the girl was around five years old with blonde hair and distinctive mark in her eye.

"The little girl looked healthy but very sad. She had her eyes towards the floor and was too shy to look up.

"The lady asked her in a mixture of French and English what she wanted.

"The girl answered in English. She looked up for only a second, with an unhappy face, and said, 'Chocolate please'. then she looked down again," he said.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/madeleinemccann/2544450/Madeleine-McCann-seen-again-in-Brussels.html#:~:targetText=A%20girl%20resembling%20Madeleine%20McCann,sighting%2C%20it%20has%20been%20reported.&targetText=The%20youngster%20was%20in%20Brussels,favourite%20%2D%20from%20a%20street%20vendor.

I suppose it makes a change doing a bit of Belgian police bashing.

[ShiningInLuz]

I'm learning a lot about the family McCann's eating habits.  Tapas, pizza, Chinese buffet, sea bass.

Now it appears Mr Tibbetts has added chocolate ice cream to the list.

I wonder how he learned chocolate was Madeleine's favourite.   

[Wonderfulspam]

"He said the girl was around five years old with blonde hair and distinctive mark in her eye."
 

He'd have to be right up close to see that.


"The little girl looked healthy but very sad. She had her eyes towards the floor and was too shy to look up."


"The girl answered in English. She looked up for only a second"

 
In the 1 second she looked up he was able to spot her eye defect. Incredible!

This one is on par with "My name is Maddie, they took me from my holiday"

What an absolute crock of sh1t.

[Eleanor]

Okay.  Getting fed up with the sniping, so pack it in.  Thank You.

[Angelo222]

Hi Barrier, if Madeleine never left Praia da Luz alive, what is your opinion on OG’s opinion, as to her remains’ whereabouts?

IMO Scotland Yard are no closer to determining this mystery than they were at the outset. They spend a small fortune digging up some scrubland near the beach but came up empty, that must have been so disappointing for DCI Redwood who has since retired. I don't believe they are any further forward even now and just don't know what happened to the child. All scenarios are still wide open imo.

[Angelo222]

Okay.  Getting fed up with the sniping, so pack it in.  Thank You.

I'll second that. 

[The General]

I'll second that. 

Indeed, although that intervention killed the only active thread today.