Campsite raid in Guia leaves hundreds of people, mostly immigrants, scrambling for a living solution
GNR police carried out a major raid at an illegal campsite near Algarve Shopping in Guia, Albufeira on Monday morning (July 8), leaving hundreds of its residents with “nowhere to go”.
Television channel SIC broke the story yesterday, reporting that around 150 unlicensed houses were rented out illegally by the campsite’s owner.
The campsite is said to be home to around 400 people, mostly immigrants, who saw authorities cut off its power during the raid due to “a lack of security,” SIC says. In other words, the raid has left their houses virtually unliveable. Some residents have already left the campsite, while most have stayed behind, desperate for some sort of solution.
Joana Palma, one of the campsite’s residents, told SIC that she believed the campsite was legal when she moved there around two years ago, explaining that the owner even wrote her a contract.
What residents didn’t know is that authorities had already been tipped off about the illegal site around two years ago, the television channel adds. Why it took two years for authorities to act has not yet been explained, but the fact of the matter is that GNR police’s environmental force SEPNA raided the site on Monday with dozens of search warrants in their possession.
In a statement to the press, GNR police say that six people – three men and three women aged between 36 and 58 – were named ‘arguidos’ (defendants) due to suspicions of urban planning violations, pollution, disobedience, damage, and tax fraud. The operation also led to the seizure of €45,253 in cash, 12 mobile homes, seven mobile phones, three laptops, a shotgun, 14 cartridges, a pistol, 72 rounds of ammunition, two air rifles and various tools.
Authorities also issued 10 administrative offense reports for unpaid vehicle taxes and failure to declare entry into national territory. These reports were sent to the Tax Authority and the Agency for Integration, Migration, and Asylum, while GNR police’s findings were reported to the Judicial Court of Albufeira.
In its statement, GNR police highlighted the “importance of such inspections”, highlighting that “any prefabricated structure”, whether on wheels or foundations, “requires prior urban licensing. These inspections ensure the safety and legality of such settlements, which are otherwise subject to removal and relocation.”
For the residents of the campsite, however, the raid has spelled despair and uncertainty.
“There are over 150 families that have nowhere else to go, including children,” resident Márcio Osório told SIC.
