|
|
|
 |
| |
 |
|
Please Help Luz’ plea as
Madeleine “circus” descends
on village again |
 |
|
As
British television networks once again
descend on Praia da Luz in the run-up to
the seventh anniversary since Madeleine
McCann went missing, a local resident
has come out fighting.
“It’s time to turn things round,” she
told us. “Every year it is the same …
British journalists arrive and dredge up
more nonsense about Luz. We are meant to
be overrun with child molesters,
burglars, homosexuals, Eastern European
child-snatchers ... Whatever next? Will
it be the Taliban?
“They are back again now and this time
they have interviewed a homeless person
and a ‘prophet’,” the long-term resident
told us on Saturday. “They have paid for
these interviews. Now, they are
apparently looking for a well-known gay
man.
“These are the stories the British
newspapers are looking for! They are not
interested in the views of the real
people of Luz - all of whom are fed up
to the back teeth with the village being
shown in such a bad light.”
The "homeless person" - a "perfectly
pleasant man, but never sober" - is not
a representational figure of local
residents, explained the woman, and the
“prophet” is someone who wears a turban
and “walks around with a pole with a
light on the top of it”.
"Neither can be considered typical Luz
residents, but nor are they in any way
threats to the community," she added.
The expat woman, who asked not to be
named as she has “no wish to be a hero”,
said: "It is time Luz had a voice."
“Last year, when the news people were
asking questions as they do every year,
I went up to the interviewer and said I
would like to say a word or two.
“I said I wanted to know why they
weren’t interviewing the McCanns for
gross negligence that had led to a fatal
result. He just dropped me because they
don’t want to hear anything like that.
They only want to report about people
they can label as "weirdos".
“Quite honestly, I feel it is time Luz
turned round and sued the McCanns for
slander.
“I would like to stand as a voice for
Luz. Who will want to come here after
all the negative publicity? The British
newspapers paint the village as one full
of terrible people. This is grotesquely
unfair. It has got to stop!”
As is so often the case, concern over
speaking out has left this voice of Luz
for now unnamed. She told us “everyone
feels the same” - and behind the scenes
few would disagree.
A high-ranking staff member at Luz Ocean
Club told the Resident earlier this
year: “Luz has taken such a battering
over the last seven years. It really is
time to do something for this community
- help it rally round.” But, like the
anonymous "voice of Luz", the man asked
not to be identified.
Meantime, the Ocean Club is one of the
prime movers behind a community
triathlon event planned later this month
precisely to promote the picturesque
village “before the holiday season gets
underway”.
For more information see
www.algarvetriathlons.com
By NATASHA DONN
news@algarveresident.com |
|
 |
|
