Source:
AFP8 hours ago
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain ... Pernando Barrena, the most senior official of the political wing of the armed ETA group still at liberty, said the government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wanted to "slam the door" on the Basque independence movement ...
Across the Spanish Basque Country late Saturday, several thousand protestors demonstrated against the arrests. Marches in Bilbao and San Sebastian -- which drew the largest crowds -- and in Vitoria, all passed off peacefully ...
Another, authorised demonstration in the city of Pamplona in the neighbouring region of Navarre, was broken up by police, Spanish media reported.
Earlier Saturday, there were sporadic incidents of violence in the Basque Country including the burning of a post office on Saturday, following Thursday's arrests, regional police said ...
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Police arrest Batasuna leaders in crackdown on Basque separatism
By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Published: 06 October 2007
Spanish police arrested virtually the entire leadership of the Basque separatist party Batasuna yesterday in a raid on a clandestine meeting of the banned organisation. Twenty-three people were detained at a Batasuna summit in the Basque village of Segura where, according to police, the party's old guard were preparing to hand control to new leaders. The arrests were ordered by Spain's leading anti-terrorism judge, Baltasar Garzon, who led moves to outlaw Batasuna five years ago when he accused it of being a front for the armed separatist group, Eta.
The raid is the most dramatic crackdown on the Basque separatists since the socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was elected in 2004.
Calls for independence are becoming more strident in both the Basque country and in Catalonia ahead of Spain's general election next March.
The Batasuna leaders, including their spokesman Joseba Permach, were led away in handcuffs by plain-clothed officers whose faces were hidden by hooded tops and balaclavas. The raid coincided with more than 15 house-to-house searches throughout the region ...
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article3033355.ece