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TENS OF THOUSANDS of protesters in Spain’s Basque Country defied Madrid on Saturday by holding a mass demonstration marked by tensions over jailed members of the armed separatist group ETA.
Crowds filled the streets in the northern city of Bilbao in a march for “human rights, understanding and peace”, after a judge banned another demonstration planned to demand concessions for the prisoners.
The treatment of imprisoned ETA convicts is one of the most delicate issues in a standoff between the authorities and western Europe’s last major armed secessionist movement.
ETA is blamed for 829 killings in its campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France.
Sensitivities flared last month when prisoners’ groups pushed for concessions from authorities, outraging victims’ families.
A judge at Madrid’s top criminal court yesterday delivered a ruling prohibiting a demonstration that was called explicitly in support of the prisoners, saying it was organised by a banned group.
Basque nationalist and separatist political parties then weighed in, calling a new “rights” march this evening.
The banned demonstration was to call for jailed ETA members to be moved to prisons closer to their families.
One of them, Itziar Goienetxia, 52, said she lived in the Basque country and had to travel 1,200 kilometres there and back for a 40-minute visit to her husband in jail in the southern town of Cadiz.
“It’s a double sentence,” affecting her as well as the prisoner, she told AFP as she came to join Saturday evening’s march.
The conservative Basque National Party which governs the region and a left-wing pro-independence grouping joined forces in calling the march, in a rare joint show of strength.
Between them they accounted for more than half of the votes in the last regional elections, as pro-independence Basques set their sights on a political solution.
“Political parties and unions that represent the political majority of this land decided they had to call this demonstration to defend the right to freedom of expression,” Pernando Barrena, spokesman for left-wing party Sortu, told AFP.
The spokesman for the regional government, Josu Erkoreka, earlier said the ban was “incomprehensible to the Basque people”.
The victims’ association AVT applied to have the new demonstration banned too, saying it gave “grave offence to each and every victim of terrorism,” in a statement.
“The only aim of the initiative is to pay homage to prisoners of the terrorist group ETA,” the association said.
A judge today ruled that the new gathering called by the parties was not illegal however, a court source said.
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They are right too. The contrast between the Basque area and Catalonia with Castillian Spain is huge, it would be nice to see them achieve independence without the Madrid goverment pulling a tantrum.
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The Basques & the Catalans have more wealth than other parts of Spain. The desire to keep this wealth rather than sharing it with places like Extramadura & Andalusia is one of the key drivers of nationalism in these area.
Same in Scotland where keeping their “oil money” is why many Scots want Independence.
Solidarity to those engaged in the struggle for independence and national sovereignty
Up the Ta!!!
Very good!
As someone who went on a Cross Culture surfing trip with a Basque group in October all I can say us that it was plainly obvious that they were Basque not Spanish. This protest shows the world how true there eagerness for independence is.
A lovely place. Madrid is as foreign to bilbao as Dublin is.
Hope they get their independence and that there will be no property tax in the new territory
Here we go again. Every article you read you comment about property tax. Get over it!
People who have been occupied and colonized by others have the right to struggle for self determination and freedom from colonial interference. It is the fact that this freedom is always refused and denied by the colonizers which engenders the violence and the horror. Strangely, the condemnation always seems to fall on the colonized. Why should that be?
Shower of basquerds
Itziar Goienetxia complained about the journey she has to make to the prison in which her husband is being held.
She should spare a thought for the relatives of the people who were murdered by her husband’s comrades. I am fed up of the whinging that comes from the partners and relatives of imprisoned terrorists.
Euskadi Ta Askatasuna
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She makes telephone sex ? This cheap advertising stunt should not be allowed on the journal
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