Disappeared and Abducted Children and Young Adults > Madeleine McCann (3) disappeared from her parent's holiday apartment at Ocean Club, Praia da Luz, Portugal on 3 May 2007. No trace of her has ever been found.
News and current affairs from the Portuguese Algarve.
OxfordBloo:
This is a very good example of the difference between an open minded approach to events and a close minded approach.
This article demonstrates that in this area it is possible for a body to be left for years before its remains are discovered.
John:
The Portuguese coast and countryside afford many opportunities to someone who might want to hide a body. The countryside in particular is pockmarked with wells and rock crevasses which can swallow up remains to the extent that they might never be found but will decay completely with the passage of time.
Admin:
Off-duty police officer catches beach thieves
IN NEWS · 20-05-2015
An off-duty PSP officer caught and arrested two young thieves on Torre beach on Oeiras on Monday after spotting a trio of them trying to stealing a mobile phone from a woman. After approaching the gang he was kicked and punched and the thieves ran off towards Carcavelos beach.
The off-duty special agent managed to call for help and the three youths, one of them a fifteen-year-old, were later intercepted.
The minor was handed over to his parents, and the other two, aged 19 and 21, had their mobiles phones and a quantity of drugs seized from them.
http://www.theportugalnews.com/news/off-duty-police-officer-catches-beach-thieves/34835
Admin:
Outrage in Portugal over police beating of man in front of his children
20 May 2015
Video footage of Jose Magalhaes being struck by police at Benfica football match has put family at centre of national scandal over alleged police brutality.
Video footage of a Portuguese policeman beating a middle-aged football fan in front of his two young sons has caused a national scandal in the country.
Jose Magalhaes took his sons and his 66-year-old father to watch their team, Benfica, play an away fixture against Vitória de Guimarães. The 0-0 draw meant Benfica won the league title.
The video, which also shows the police officer punching Magalhaes’s father, has sparked outrage in Portugal and led to an official investigation by authorities of alleged police abuse of power.
Magalhaes, 42, told AP on Tuesday that police had allowed him and his sons to leave the stadium before others because his children, aged nine and 13, were being crushed as Benfica fans inside celebrated.
“It was supposed to be a day of celebration,” Magalhaes told AP in his hometown of Matosinhos.
The police force’s national headquarters said it has opened an investigation into the incident. The government department that oversees the police is also analysing police conduct.
The dramatic footage, played widely on Portuguese TV and social media, shows the Magalhaes family by a low wall outside the stadium, where the youngest child sat down and drank a bottle of water.
There were few other people in the vicinity because police were holding rival fans inside the stadium in northern Portugal, to avoid clashes in surrounding streets.
An officer questioned Magalhaes, then punched his father before using a truncheon to beat Magalhaes on the ground while his nine-year-old screamed: “Dad! Dad!”
“The policeman came over ... and asked us why we had brought children to a stadium if we knew there might be trouble,” Magalhaes said.
“I told him, gesticulating, that he should be more concerned about the problems inside the stadium.
“The next thing I know he’s on top of me.”
Another policeman in riot gear with a shield kept the 9-year-old child away and tried to pick him up as he cried.
Magalhaes said his first worry was his youngest son.
“The kid didn’t understand what was going on. I wanted to get over to him and comfort him ... and calm him down,” he said. Instead, Magalhaes was handcuffed and taken away.
Magalhaes said the policeman alleged at an initial court hearing on Monday that Magalhaes spat at him, a claim Magalhaes denied. Magalhaes said the police had previously been kind to him and his family by letting them leave the stadium early.
The incident has brought a flurry of investigations and charges.
Magalhaes’s lawyer, Sonia Carneiro, said police have brought a complaint of threatening behaviour and obstruction against Magalhaes.
After an initial hearing on Monday, the public prosecutor’s office is now investigating whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a formal charge against Magalhaes. There is no deadline for a decision.
Magalhaes said he and his father intend to file a complaint against the police, though he acknowledges that the one officer who hit him does not represent the entire police force.
Meanwhile, he has to explain what happened to his children. He and his wife had taught them that the police are their friends, he said, and they “couldn’t understand why the police acted like they did”.
As he nurses his bruises and stiffness, Magalhaes hopes an invitation from Benfica to watch next weekend’s final game of the season will help banish the bad memory.
“The physical part will heal faster than the psychological part,” he said.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/20/outrage-in-portugal-over-police-beating-of-man-in-front-of-his-children
Brietta:
'Baton attack' policeman faces 8 years in jail
Created: 22 May 2015
Filipe Silva, the policeman who violently attacked two men after a football match in Guimarães last Sunday, has put himself at risk of an eight year jail sentence.
Silva has not apologised to José Magalhães (pictured) or his father, both of whom were attacked by the PSP commandante in front of José's 9 and 13 year-old children outside the Guimarães stadium.
A formal complaint against Silva’s violent behaviour was presented in court yesterday with statements from eight eye-witnesses who saw an attack which appeared to lack and credible legal motivation.
Businessman José Magalhães formally has accused the officer of two crimes of bodily harm each carrying a possible prison term of four years.
The complaint refers to an abuse of power, excessive use of force, and of aggression in the case of the 70-year-old father who twice was punched in the face by the angry officer.
Silva claims that Magalhães spat in his face, an allegation denied by Magalhães and the eye-witnesses. Even if this were true, the violence of the resulting attack was far in excess of any legitimate response.
As the attack was filmed and broadcast live, fans who had gathered in Lisbon watched it on the big screen in Marquês de Pombal square and reacted violently, later clashing with police in a night of violence.
Alongside the court action by Magalhães vs Comandante Silva there also is an internal investigation in to the Guimarães incident and into the violent clashes in Lisbon. A report must be produced within 30 days.
Peace-loving Portugal is let down by this sort of incident which not only was broadcast live, but later was seen across the world with the clip available almost instantly on YouTube.
The point of contact for many visitors to Portugal is at roadside police inspections which are intimidating and scary with officers often noted for their fundraising skills rather than communication abilities.
Riot police in full battle dress called to the open market at Barão de São João in the Algarve market hit the headlines as an example of disproportionate police action which left some in tears and many visibly distressed and intimidated.
'Proportinality' is often the complaint from the public which understands the need for a robust police force, but feels there has been an increasing in heavy-handedness, especially where motoring fines are concerned.
Filipe Silva, already known as a ‘handy’ policemen, filmed using a baton to hit a man already down on the ground, claims that Magalhães ‘provoked him’ because he know there was a cameraman nearby. The clip of the incident now has been viewed worldwide.
Knowing there was a film crew nearby was all the more reason for Silva to behave in a dignified manner that would have been a credit to his uniform, rather than making a name for himself for batoning an unarmed man already on the ground and thus gaining unwanted worldwide attention.
Whatever the result of the inquiry and court case, the damage to Portugal’s peace-loving image is done.
See also the BBC News report 'They hate black people'
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32419952?post_id=10153329395644948_10153330000884948#_=_
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/5681-baton-attack-policeman-faces-8-years-in-jail
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