Spaniards protest against ETA in Madrid

Sun Apr 10, 2011

Tens of thousands of protesters have staged a rally in Madrid to show their anger at the Spanish government's "submission" to the Basque separatist group ETA.

Demonstrators shouted "no more lies" and "no more fake ceasefires" and carried Spanish flags and banners reading "ETA barred from elections" after the separatists launched a new party to field pro-independence candidates in May 22 elections, a Press TV correspondent reported on Sunday.

On Feb. 7, the separatists formed Sortu -- a Basque socialist political party -- in an attempt to represent pro-independence candidates in the upcoming regional and municipal elections.

The party's legal status was refuted by the Spanish Supreme Court on March 24 on the grounds that the new political group is just a new iteration of ETA's political wing, Batasuna, which has been banned since 2003.

However, the chances for the Basque separatists are not written off as they can appeal to the constitutional Court and keep their hopes alive to compete in the elections.

ETA on January 10 declared a "permanent ceasefire" to be verified by the international community. The group has called 11 truces throughout its history of separatism.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the rally "Voices Against Terrorism" along with 30 others accused socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of being deferential to ETA and called on him to resign.

They also urged the government to scrap any decision to commute the prison terms for ETA members as well as a ban of any political party that has ETA sympathizers among its members.

Founded in 1958, ETA has been blamed for more than 825 deaths in campaign for independence in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174151.html.