Tens of thousands protested in Bilbao, northern Spain, on Saturday calling for the return of more than 400 prisoners linked to the Basque separatist group ETA (Basque Fatherland and Liberty in Basque), who are being held outside the region.
Families of the convicts, who are dispersed across 73 prisons in France and Spain, led the march in the Basque region’s most populous city.
A banner called for “Basque prisoners in the Basque country,” while the crowd chanted for those being held to be brought home.
Photo: Reuters
Joseba Azkarraga, spokesman for a group defending the rights of ETA-linked prisoners, called on politicians “to end ... the suffering of thousands of families who are affected by the dispersion.”
Prisoners in ill health should be released, he added.
Organizers claimed that 70,000 people attended the rally, while a photographer said several tens of thousands were at the event.
A simultaneous rally was held in Bayonne, the largest city in the French Basque country, which organizers said drew 10,000 people, but police said was attended by 7,500.
The ETA has claimed responsibility for the death of 829 people over 40 years, but renounced violence in its struggle for independence four years ago.
The organization has refused to disband, largely so it can continue to represent members and allies still being held in prison.
Separately, Catalonia voted for a new regional president yesterday, with the result expected to help a push for independence from Spain.
The fate of Catalonia has hung in the balance since regional polls in September, in which secessionist groups came out top, although no one party managed to gain an absolute majority.
The deadlock was broken on Saturday when regional president Artur Mas, from the “Together for Yes” alliance, agreed to step aside to avoid triggering fresh elections.
The Popular Unity Candidacy party had refused for more than three months to back the leader because of his support for austerity measures and his party’s links to corruption scandals.
Mas named Carles Puigdemont as his successor, paving the way for a separatist coalition government that aims to declare independence from Spain within 18 months.
On Sunday evening, separatist members of the regional parliament were to confirm the selection of Puigdemont, a Catalan-language journalist from Mas’ party.
The 53-year-old mayor of Girone, which lies about 100km north of Barcelona, was then to appoint a Cabinet. If a deal had not been reached by midnight, Mas would have had to call fresh elections in Catalonia.
“Our project is solid and working in the right direction,” Puigdemont tweeted after the last-minute agreement, as the separatists gather their forces to take the fight back to Madrid.
The Spanish government is currently in limbo after legislative elections last month in which Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s Popular Party (PP) came top, but lost its absolute majority. So far both the PP’s traditional Socialist rival, which came second in the elections, and upstart anti-austerity party Podemos have refused to support him.
Faced with the prospect of secession by Spain’s richest region, Rajoy on Saturday insisted that the nation’s next government should have “an ample parliamentary base with the stability and capacity to face the separatist challenge.”
With its own language and customs, Catalonia already enjoys a large degree of freedom in education, health and policing.
However, it wants more independence from the Spanish state, particularly where taxation is concerned, complaining that it pays more to Madrid than it gets back.
Polls show that most people in Catalonia — Spain’s richest region, with a population of 7.5 million — support a referendum on independence, but are divided over breaking from Spain.
A 2010 decision by the Spainish Constitutional Court to water down a statute giving Catalonia more powers has added fuel to the fire and caused support for independence to rise.
In November, the separatists passed a motion in the Catalan parliament calling on the assembly to start drafting laws to create a distinct social security system and treasury, with a view to completing independence in a year and a half.
Rajoy immediately filed suit against the move in the Constitutional Court, which annulled the independence motion last month.
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