By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain – Thousands of people marched through the streets of the San Sebastian in northern Spain on Saturday to protest the arrests of ETA members and call for their release. Members of the Basque region’s nationalist political movements, unions, and militant groups were among those who participated in the protest.
A Spanish judge ordered the arrest earlier this week of five men whom are accused of attempts to revive Batasuna, which was the political arm of the Basque-separatist movement ETA. Among those arrested were Arnaldo Otegi, the former spokesman and leader of Batasuna, and Rafael Diez Usabiaga, a leader of the Basque movement. They are alleged to be a part of a terrorist sect. According to the Spanish Interior Ministry the police had been watching the suspects for months. They were “[following] ETA directives.”
Batasuna has been banned in Spain since 2003 due to alleged links to ETA. ETA has operated in southwestern Europe for over four decades and is responsible for conducting terrorist attacks, resulting in the deaths of approximately 825 people. The goal of this decades-old organization has been the independence of the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France. Both the European Union and the United States list ETA as a terrorist organization.
A 15 month cease-fire that the ETA had agreed to in 2005 was called off after talks between the separatist group and the Spanish government broke down. After the collapse of the negotiations, the Spanish Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero has refused in re-engage the Basque separatist movement. This new stance towards ETA comes at a time when both the Spanish and French governments have increased their efforts at dismantling ETA.
For more information, please see:
BBC – France detains ‘top Eta leader’ – 19 October 2009
SPANISH NEWS – Protests Against Basque Militants Arrests – 19 October 2009
EITB – Thousands turn out in San Sebastian to protest against arrests – 18 October 2009
AFP – Thousands protest arrests of Basque nationalists – 17 October 2009
EXPATICA SPAIN – Basque separatist leader jailed in Spain – 17 October 2009
TAIWAN NEWS – Spain jails 5 outlawed Basque party members – 17 October 2009
