SPAIN: POLICE CLASH WITH DEMONSTRATORS IN BILBAO PROTESTING AGAINST THE CRACKDOWN ON THE BASQUE SEPARATIST PARTY, BATASUNA

Record ID: 629159

  • Title: SPAIN: POLICE CLASH WITH DEMONSTRATORS IN BILBAO PROTESTING AGAINST THE CRACKDOWN ON THE BASQUE SEPARATIST PARTY, BATASUNA
  • Date: 14th September 2002
  • Summary: PAN: POLICEMAN TAKING WOMAN AWAY TO A POLICE VAN VARIOUS: POLICE AND DEMONSTRATORS. ON THE STREETS (5 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2002 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BILBAO, SPAIN
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Crime,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABW676ORC5I7BXPHPAXS7PF629
  • Story Text: Riot police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators protesting at a government crackdown against Basque separatist party Batasuna over alleged links to ETA.
    Protesters chanting "Independence" hurled bottles, stones and litter bins at hundreds of police on Saturday (September 14).
    The police, wearing helmets and carrying shields, attempted to end the march which had been outlawed by a Spanish High Court judge.
    Police used water a cannon to break up the protest.
    Several injured demonstrators were taken away by ambulance.
    Some protesters remained on the streets with wounds and bruising from rubber bullets clearly visible on their faces and bodies.
    After speeches by key nationalist figures, including Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi, the protest appeared to dissolve peacefully, despite the earlier clashes with police.
    Organisers had appealed for the march in this northern industrial town to remain peaceful.
    Spain's centre-right Popular Party government, with the backing of the country's mainstream political parties, recently passed a law banning any party which did not condemn violent acts by armed Basque separatist group ETA.
    ETA has killed more than 800 people in a long and bloody campaign to carve a Basque homeland out of north-western Spain and southern France.
    Most recently it killed a six-year-old girl and a man in a car bomb attack on Spain's eastern coast.
    Batasuna denies it is the political wing of ETA, but the government and Spain's high profile investigating judge Baltasar Garzon say they have copious evidence linking the two.
    Mainstream Basque nationalist party, the PNV, has protested at Madrid's clampdown on Batasuna and the move has prompted various street protests in the Basque region, which already enjoys considerable autonomy from Madrid.
    But the PNV also came under attack from demonstrators on Saturday (September 14), with chants of "The PNV are Spanish", a clear insult to any supporter of Basque nationalism.
    The Basque government had earlier bowed to pressure from Madrid and ordered police to stop the march, which organisers had convened under the banner "Long Live the Basque People".
    Garzon outlawed demonstrations in favour of Batasuna, or led by its politicians, after slapping a three-year ban on the group last month for its alleged connections to ETA.
    On Friday (September 13), Basque authorities said they would merely serve the organisers of the march with a copy of Garzon's order.
    But the Basque region's moderate nationalist government said in a statement on Saturday (September 14), it had told the Ertzaintza regional police force to take "the necessary measures to prevent the celebration of the march."
    Basque prime minister, or lehendakari, Juan Jose Ibarretze, said authorities had allowed a similar march by 1,000 protesters in the streets of the nationalist stronghold of San Sebastian last weekend to prevent any disturbances.
    Spanish Interior Minister Angel Acebes said on Friday (September 13) the Basque government had no excuse for not complying with Garzon's order to prevent the march.
    Garzon's ban on any demonstrations in favour of Batasuna prompted Amnesty International to warn Spain it risked "undermining fundamental freedoms".
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register