Spain Shuts Down Radical Basque Party Headquarters

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, August 27, 2002

Spain Shuts Down Radical Basque Party Headquarters

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

Masked Spanish police stormed the headquarters of Basque nationalist party Batasuna in a late night raid after parliament and a senior judge launched a two-pronged attack to ban the radical group for links to ETA, according to AP report Monday .

State radio said police shut down Batasuna's main office in the northern Spanish town of Pamplona, fulfilling an order from High Court Judge Baltasar Garzon, who only hours before had slapped a three-year ban on the political party for funding and supporting Western Europe's most active guerrilla force.

"Democracy in the Basque Homeland," shouted several Batasuna members, including democratically-elected regional legislators and town councilors, as police ejected them from the building late Monday, state radio said.

Scores of onlookers watched the raid, but no violence was reported. Pamplona is the regional capital of Navarre, which Basque nationalists say forms part of a Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwest France.

Authorities in the neighboring Basque Country were braced for street violence and possible ETA reprisals as they prepared to close Batasuna's premises in accordance with the Garzon's suspension of the party.

The judge's ruling came the same day parliament overwhelmingly approved a government proposal to petition the Supreme Court to outlaw Batasuna under a controversial new law tailor-made to ban the party for refusing to condemn ETA violence.

ETA has killed 836 people since 1968 in its campaign for a Basque homeland. Batasuna's leaders rationalize the armed group's violence by saying it has its roots in the Basque people's struggle for freedom.

While popular among ordinary Spaniards, who revile ETA's attacks, the attempt to ban a democratically-elected party which holds 10 percent of the vote in the Basque Country has raised concerns Aznar's government may be infringing civil rights.

Source: Agencies

Questions?Comments? Click here

Thirty One ETA Members Brought to Trial in Spain

Spanish Politician, Policeman Killed in Basque Violence

Car Bomb Injures 95 in Madrid

China's Exports Hit Record of US$56.2 Billion in July ( 36 Messages)

China's On-going Reform Calls for Better Economic Illumination ( 31 Messages)

Fourth Unmanned Spaceship Set to Roar by Yearend ( 46 Messages)

FM Spokesman Rejects Al-Qaida Contacts Allegation ( 48 Messages)

Commentary: Taiwan Independence No Easy Thing ( 57 Messages)