Spain Issues 3-Year Ban on Basque Political Party
Masked Spanish police stormed the headquarters of Basque nationalist party Batasuna on Monday night after the lower house of parliament and a senior judge launched a two-pronged attack to ban the group, which is accused of links to the outlawed separatist group ETA.
State radio said police shut down Batasuna’s main office in Pamplona, fulfilling an order from Judge Baltasar Garzon, the investigating magistrate who slapped a three-year ban on the party for funding and supporting one of Europe’s last guerrilla forces.
“Democracy in the Basque homeland!” shouted several Batasuna members, including regional legislators and town councilors, as police ejected them from the building. Despite the ban on the party, they will be allowed to serve out their terms in local and regional government.
The judge’s ruling came the same day that the lower house of parliament overwhelmingly approved a government proposal to petition the Supreme Court to outlaw Batasuna permanently.
ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for a Basque homeland.
Batasuna’s leaders deny Madrid’s charges that they are the political wing of ETA.
They say their party could act as an intermediary with the armed group in negotiations with the government to end the dispute in the Basque Country.
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