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FREE Vol. 6 Issue 164 www.theolivepress.es September 8th - September 21st 2023
TIME TO STOP
Celebrities, including Joseph Fiennes and Peter Egan, throw weight behind expat antibullfighting protest battling to stop a corrida this weekend By Walter Finch
HOLLYWOOD star Joseph Fiennes and BBC presenter Chris Packham have weighed in to back a British-led campaign to stop a ‘barbaric’ bullfight this Sunday in Mallorca. The Shakespeare in Love star, who has a home on the island, and the TV conservationist have signed the petition to cancel the controversial corrida, in Inca. A host of other celebrities and influencers have also put their names to the 6,000-plus petition which aims to ban the ‘sport’ outright in the Balearics. It includes Downton Abbey star Peter Egan, who signed it this week and tweeted it to his 130,000 social media followers. It has been reshared over 500 times. “Hi everyone, please join me… and end bullfighting in Inca and Mallorca NOW - Sign the Petition!” he wrote. Expat-run pressure group Mallorca Against Bullfighting (MAB) has now handed in the petition to Inca town hall and is planning a series of protests for the day. “I call it Mallorca’s dark little secret,”
EXCLUSIVE The Olive Press has tracked down a villa allegedly rented by controversial football kiss row boss Luis Rubiales to host an orgy with ‘eight to 10’ young women. The stunning home is nestled in an exclusive Costa Tropical urbanisation, near where the ousted Spanish FA (RFEF) boss grew up in Motril, Granada. Rubiales is alleged to have held the late night ‘orgy’ in Salobrena, with women as young as 18 during the Covid lockdown in 2020, according to his uncle Juan Rubiales. The pair are embroiled in an ongoing feud after Luis sacked him from his press officer role at RFEF. The series of wild nights, which went on until 6am and broke Covid rules, was anything but popular with angry neighbours, the Olive Press can reveal. “I remember when he was here, the noise was crazy,” one neighbour revealed. “Boom, boom, boom until the early hours, there was lots of music, drinking and lots of girls. “I could hear them all laughing and partying until five or six in the morning. They were here for a couple of days.” The local, who only gave her name as Maria, said the property is owned by an Italian businesswoman. She added: “It was during the Covid pandemic and it was annoying but we did not call the police because that’s not the kind of neighbours we are.” Last year, Juan Rubiales, told an anti-corruption trial in Madrid that Luis had illegally used RFEF funds to rent the luxury villa for an ‘orgy’.
MAB founder Natasha Retzmann, a Londoner, told the Olive Press. “For an island that lives off of tourism, everyone tries their hardest to hide the fact that at least twice a year they hold cruel and barbaric events in which bulls are tortured and murSUPPORT: (From top) Fiendered.” nes, Packham and Egan Retzmann, 46, dehave joined with protestors livered the petition (above and right) by hand on August 31 although Inca mayor Virgilio Moreno refused to Inca town hall declined to comment personally receive it. when contacted by the Olive Press. “He ducks and dives on the issue, but However, they explained that the I know he had already received the bullfight was ‘nothing to do with the petition by email,” said Retzmann, town hall’. who moved to the island 13 years ago “It’s a private event organised by a and runs a cycling business. private company and all their docuWhile the town hall formally reg- mentation is in order. istered the petition and logged it “The only function the town hall into the system, she claims Moreno has is to ensure all safety issues did not share it with any of his col- meet regulations.” See Sordid and seedy, p6 leagues. The petition claims that bulls are being ‘tortured’ before they enter the ring, in a variety of ways. Protest groups thought they had been successful in 2017 when killing bulls was outlawed in Mallorca, although ’ Spain’s constitutional court in Madrid overturned the ruling two years later. It argued the sport was part of Spain's ‘national heritage’. There are two key strongholds of bullfighting in Mallorca in Palma and Inca. The organisers for the event, Spanish company Tauroemocion, defend the spectacle Avenida del Golf 16, Santa Ponsa as part of Spanish cultural identity. aadunnbutcher@yahoo.com “We want to recover the splendour of bullfighting that has been traditional in Inca for years," said director Alberto García. The protestors will be out in force for a peaceful demo outside the Plaza 952 147 834 de Toros at 5pm on * Vo l u n t a r y i n s u r a n c e c o v e r. S u b j e c t t o c o m p a n y u n d e r w r i t i n g c o n d i t i o n s . * D a t a e x t r a c t e d f r o m p r o c e s s c l o s u r e s u r v e y s a f t e r u s i n g o u r R o a d s i d e A s s i s t a n c e a n d b r e a k d o w n s e r v i c e s . Sunday.
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