Republican News · Thursday 13 March 1997

[An Phoblacht]

Basque resistance intensifies

These are days of intense activity and high stakes in the struggle for Basque independence. ETA has carried out more attacks in the last six weeks than in the whole of 1996 and every day young activists confront the paramilitary police on the streets. Riots are now a common feature of life in the Basque country.

The state's response has been to imprison the national executive of Herri Batasuna, the party of left-wing Basque nationalism, for including scenes featuring ETA activists in an election video. They are charged with promoting ETA, though ironically the ETA members were explaining how the conflict could be peacefully resolved.

Sixteen members of the HB executive are now in jails near Madrid. Their bail has been set at 5 million pesetas each and they can expect to be imprisoned for up to four years before their trial. Gerry Adams has written to the Spanish government protesting at their detention.

Four executive members have not been arrested - they are in Brussels and Geneva and so far the Spanish have not applied for their extradition.

Last Friday a general strike in the Basque Country, called by HB, received a level of support which could not have been expected even one year ago.

Events so far this year point to the existence of a determined movement of people - including, significantly, growing numbers of young people - who support Basque independence. They are a force for change represented politically by Herri Batasuna, who won 154,000 votes in the last elections. The conservative Spanish government, by responding with coercion is hoping to crush the independence movement but the evidence so far is that they are only succeeding in fuelling the desire for freedom.

•A journalist from the Basque left wing daily, Egin, is currently on trial on charges of passing information to ETA. Pepe Rei is Egin's head of investigative journalism and his trial is seen as an attempt by the state to clamp down on the paper's ability to investigate the government's wrongdoing in the Basque Country.

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