The Ponte de Lima Court decided that the Rebordões Santa Maria Parish Council will participate in the ethnographic parade of the Feiras Novas, suspending the decision of the Concelhia Association of Feiras Novas to exclude the parish. The court upheld the precautionary measure filed by the council and ordered the association to refrain from preventing the parish's participation in the parade, warning that any violation of the precautionary measure constitutes a crime of qualified disobedience.
The Concelhia Association of Feiras Novas revealed that it had learned of the president of the Parish Council's intention to introduce a tractor with a tank in the parade, allegedly to protest the lack of investment in the sanitation network. According to the association's board, the exclusion was not taken lightly, stating that the Feiras Novas are above any person or institution and that the ethnographic parade should not be a stage for institutional conflicts or claims.
The president of the Rebordões Santa Maria Parish Council, Vítor Gonçalves (PSD), pointed to political disagreements with the Ponte de Lima Municipal Council as the cause of the controversy. The mayor explained that the parish decided to change the theme of its float in the parade, which for more than 20 years had been represented by beans, to windmills, of which there are 22 in the parish, the highest number of all parishes in the municipality.
Gonçalo Rodrigues (CDS-PP), president of the association and councilor on the Ponte de Lima Municipal Council, said he would comply with any sentence and referred clarifications to a statement from the association. On Saturday, the parish will parade in the ethnographic parade to showcase the village's windmills.
