Tens of thousands of people (20,000 according to the city police) demonstrated for ETA prisoners in Bilbao this Saturday. The aim of the march, called by Sare, a support network for inmates of the gang disbanded in 2018, was to demand “the application of ordinary penal law to the terror group’s prisoners and an end to emergency measures” recognizing that “dispersal is coming to an end”.
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The demonstration, convened every January, had a special meaning in 2023 because it served to take to the streets their new logo designed for “the new stage” that is starting this movement. EH Bildu politicians such as Arnaldo Otegi and Arkaitz Rodríguez also took part in the demonstration; and from ERC, such as Joan Tarda and Carme Forcadell, as well as members of the ELA and LAB unions, among others.
From Sare they estimated that “despite the wind and rain, the Basques did not miss the deadline” to claim the rights of the prisoners and “packed the Autonomía road” to Zabalburu, where an act was held with Bertsolaris and explanations of speakers of the organizers, to then continue the march to the town hall.
The demonstration was led by relatives of prisoners and only the motto ‘euskal presoak, etxera’ (Basque prison home) was chanted throughout the ride. “This is the expression of an important part of Basque society that demands an end to the violation of the rights” of prisoners, said the representative of this group Joseba Azkarraga, who has criticized the prosecutor’s office of the National Court “blocking” authorized measures by the Basque prison administration for some of the terrorist organization’s inmates, such as permits and pay rises.
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