Sunday October 24th 2021
It’s about prison conditions
Thousands of Basques demonstrate for ETA
The former Basque terrorist organization ETA has been dissolved for two years, but many of its members are still in Spanish prisons. Thousands are now taking to the streets for their rights.
Thousands have demonstrated in the Basque Country for the rights of the imprisoned members of the terrorist organization ETA, which was dissolved in 2018. In the evening, the people marched through the northern Spanish city of San Sebastián and, above all, demanded that all around 600 prisoners be accommodated close to their homes. High-ranking separatist leaders from the Spanish conflict region of Catalonia and politicians from the left-wing party Unidas Podemos, the junior partner in the government coalition of Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, also took part in the demonstration.
ETA, founded in 1959, had fought a bloody struggle for an independent Basque Country in Spain for decades. In around 3,000 attacks, 857 people died and around 2,600 were injured. In May 2018, the organization announced its dissolution. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of ETA’s declaration of non-violence on Wednesday (October 20), the media pointed to the latest polls, according to which only 21 percent of the residents of the region in northern Spain are “unconditionally” in favor of separation.
Separatist leader wants proof of strength
The Basque separatist leader Arnaldo Otegi called on the Basques to participate actively in a rally on November 20 in Bilbao to demonstrate again for independence. The aim is to show the international community and the Spaniards that the independence movement in the Basque Country is “stronger than ever,” said the head of the EH Bildu party. It is wrong to claim that the number of supporters for secession from Spain is lower than ever in the Basque Country.
In the Basque Parliament, EH Bildu is the second largest group with 21 out of a total of 75 members, while Otegi is the leader of the opposition. The Basque Country is ruled by the nationalist PNV party (31 MPs), which also wants to achieve more self-determination for the Basques and, ultimately, independence, but appears less radical. The PNV is supported in the government by the socialists.