By DPA
Madrid : Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Bilbao, San Sebastian and other towns in Spain’s Basque and neighbouring Navarra regions protesting the arrest of leaders of the banned Basque separatist party Batasuna.
Several people were injured late Saturday in Navarra’s capital, Pamplona, during clashes with police who broke up a banned demonstration by Batasuna supporters.
The demonstration heard a Batasuna spokesman call Thursday’s arrest of 23 of the party’s leaders a “declaration of war by the Spanish government on the Basque independence movement”.
Other demonstrations saw people chanting slogans for independence for the region, and bearing banners proclaiming “struggle is the only path” and “open the doors to independence”.
Twenty-three people were held in the Basque town of Segura, near the coastal city of San Sebastian, Thursday as they were about to elect a new leadership for the party.
Batasuna is widely regarded as the political wing of the armed separatist group ETA. It was banned in 2003 as a part of ETA, but has continued activities such as calling rallies and press conferences.
Dozens of ETA members have also been detained since the group ended its 14-month ceasefire in June. ETA has since staged several bombings, the most serious of which injured two police officers.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in its campaign of nearly four decades for a sovereign Basque state.