There are 116 buildings on Faro island that the government considers illegal and which are due to be demolished as part of the Polis associations’ master plan to return the Ria Formosa islands to a more natural state.
The eviction notices have gone out and the inevitable fines detailed for those who delay their departure. No compensation is payable.
The property owners on Faro island, like those on other of the Ria Formosa islands, have been living under the threat of eviction for at least ten years since the approval of the demolition plans in a wide-sweeping project to tidy up the islands, return them to a natural state, work on the sand dune areas and remove property and people who do not fit into its end view.
The original plan referred to alternative island accommodation and the building of fishing huts as seen along much of the Algarve's coves and inlets.
Polis has given the islanders one extra month to get their affairs in order and to leave their properties by January 5th 2015.
José Teixeira is not a full time resident of Faro island but has a holiday home there which cost him €30,000 some 15 years ago, since which time the council has been charging him rates and EDP for his connection and use of electricity.
Teixeira and the owners of 73 other properties due for demolition are refusing to leave and accuse Polis of acting outside its remit.
"This operation has no legally sustainable basis because evictions should have been decided in the Municipal Assembly and they were not," says Teixeira, arguing that if the state wants to proceed with the demolition, it should compensate people because it was the state that allowed the owners to connect to water and electricity, and to pay taxes to the municipality.
José Teixeira is part of a group of 40 owners who are preparing a lawsuit to try to halt the process and prevent the evictions and destruction of houses. If these property owners refuse to move, Polis will charge them for the cost of flattening and removing of their own properties.
The owners reckon, amongst other things, that this is abusive and bullying behaviour and they also question the selection of properties that are due to be demolished.
For José Teixeira, there is "a great injustice" in keeping some houses and taking down others. The fragility of the dunes, he adds, was made worse not by individual properties or any local human intervention but by the construction of the marina jetty in Vilamoura which has hindered the natural movement of sand.
João Barreto bought a fisherman’s house 32 years ago, he also refuses to leave and wants to fight to the end against the demolitions, because, he says, the criteria are not well-founded and there are "gross errors" in the evaluation of cases.
Professional fisherman Carlos Estêvão has lived on the island for 13 years and says he has nowhere else to go. His is considered a second home as his wife has a house in her name in Faro where their son lives.
Speaking to Lusa, the president of Faro Council, Rogério Bacalhau claimed the west zone of Faro island is an area "of great risk" where in recent years the sea has damaged four houses, although he says he understands the emotional connection to the area makes it more difficult to accept the decision.
Bacalhau was against the destruction of property and forced resettlement of residents but changed his mind when promised some long overdue dredging by the minister in charge of the operation.
Bacalhau claims that every situation can be reviewed and asks people to contact him. Not according to Polis, which is intent on sweeping away peoples’ property as they are ‘in danger of being damaged by the sea,’ which would be inconvenient for the rescue services.
Local pressure group Olhão Livre says that without struggle there is no victory, and that people should no longer believe in 'political traitors and chameleons.'
In a perceptive attack on the Faro mayor and his vacillating political stance, Olhão Livre comments that islanders should rebel against ‘those who say they are against the demolitions, but then appear on television next to the minister and his entourage as the demolitions start, as did the traitor Bacalhau on Ramalhete island’ last week.
