Spain police clash with Basque separatist protesters
06 Jan 2007 22:01:06 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds details of clashes, two arrested) By Jane Barrett MADRID, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Spanish police clashed on Saturday with Basque separatist supporters at a demonstration in northern Spain on the day that the body of a man killed by a car bomb blamed on ETA guerrillas was flown home. Thousands of separatist supporters held a sit-in in the Basque town of San Sebastian to demand the release of ETA prisoners. A planned rally was banned by Spain's high court. "Independence!" and "Let the prisoners out!", supporters shouted. Some of them threw missiles at police and set rubbish bins and a car on fire. Police hit back with their rubber truncheons. A police spokesman said two people had been arrested. A week ago Ecuadorean immigrants Diego Armando Estacio and Carlos Alonso Palate were killed by a car bomb in the parking lot of Madrid airport that the government has blamed on ETA. The two are thought to be the first people killed by the separatist guerrilla group since May 2003, although ETA has not officially claimed responsibility for the attack. Estacio's body was pulled out of the rubble on Saturday morning and, after an autopsy, was carried on to a Spanish military jet to be flown back to Guayaquil, Ecuador. Both men were thought to be asleep in their cars, waiting for family members at the airport when the bomb went off. Parate's body was flown home on Thursday. The blast has shattered a nine-month Basque peace process. ETA declared a "permanent truce" in March, sowing hope that Europe's last domestic guerrilla group would lay down arms and negotiate a solution on issues like moving ETA prisoners closer to home and legalising separatist political party Batasuna. BLOODY STRUGGLE ETA took up arms in the final phase of the Franco dictatorship when the Basque Country's distinctive language and culture were suppressed. It has killed more than 800 people in its four-decade fight for independence of an area which straddles northern Spain and southwest France. The Spanish region now has a huge amount of autonomy but ETA and Batasuna still want full independence. Polls show that about one in seven Basques support Batasuna. Spanish King Juan Carlos said the country would defeat "terrorist barbarities" by democratic means, under the rule of law. "With full confidence in ... the firm action of our judiciary, the efficiency of our security forces and strengthening international cooperation, we will put an end to terrorist violence once (and) for all," he told armed forces in an annual address. Since the airport attack, police have found stashes of explosives in the Basque Country, raising fears that ETA could strike again. One of the warning calls ahead of the blast was made in ETA's name and the government has pinned the blame on them. (Additional reporting by Emma Pinedo and Pilar Gore)
