Several hundred Basque separatists held small street rallies, hung posters and painted political graffiti on walls throughout the troubled northern region on Saturday to support a new political party to be launched next week.
A counter-demonstration was held in Madrid to oppose negotiations with militant Basque separatists. The new party, whose name will be revealed Tuesday, hopes to compete in May regional elections as a successor to Batasuna, the political wing of armed separatist group ETA that was banned in 2003. But first the central government in Madrid must approve a petition that the new party be included on electoral lists. The party plans to present the petition to the Interior Ministry on Wednesday.
The establishment of the new party follows the declaration of a permanent cease-fire by ETA on January 10. The rallies Saturday were held throughout the Basque region, including in San Sebastian and Bilbao. "The actions are a means of making visible in Basque towns and cities the support for a necessary legalisation process," Niko Moreno, mayor of the Basque town of Elorrio, told The Associated Press. He said that around 15 percent of the Basque population would vote for a successor to Batasuna if it were to be legalised in time for the elections.
The Spanish government has insisted that an ETA cease-fire is not enough to legalise a separatist party containing militants with direct links to that violent organisation. ETA is considered a terrorist organisation by Spain, the European Union and the US It has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s, but has recently been decimated by the continued arrests of its leaders and by dwindling grass roots support.