Spain steps up pressure on ETA supporters

Aug 13, 2009, 10:08 GMT

Madrid/Bilbao - Spanish authorities are increasing pressure on supporters of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, banning pro-ETA rallies and ordering the removal of pro-ETA posters from public places, several media reported Thursday.

The Basque regional government announced that it had prohibited a separatist rally planned for August 21.

Prosecutors and an anti-terrorism association were also seeking judicial bans on several other rallies, following clashes between police and separatist demonstrators in San Sebastian earlier this month.

Socialist Patxi Lopez, who was sworn in as the Basque region's first clearly pro-Spanish prime minister in May, has pledged to help Madrid crack down on the ETA in an attempt to isolate the group socially.

Prosecutors at Madrid's National Court have meanwhile issued more than 200 orders to remove photos or posters of ETA members from streets or establishments in the Basque region and neighbouring Navarre, the daily El Pais reported.

Prosecutors were seeking an unusual court order to close two bars whose owners defied police orders to remove such pictures. The bar owners could face charges of praising terrorism.

The government was meanwhile assigning bodyguards to senior officials spending their holidays on Majorca, where an ETA bombing killed two police officers of the paramilitary Civil Guard on July 30, the daily El Mundo reported.

That attack was followed by four blasts on Sunday, which claimed no victims. Police were searching for ETA members who could possibly still be on the island.

The regional government of the Balearic Islands has reassured tourists that the archipelago is safe.

Regional authorities have hired a marketing agency to counteract safety fears, and opened an informational telephone line for tourists, according to El Pais.

Balearic hotel reservations for August have gone down 9 per cent from the corresponding period in 2008, and were expected to decline by 23 per cent in September, the daily Diario de Mallorca reported.

Hoteliers, however, attributed the drop to Europe's economic crisis rather than the fear of ETA.

ETA, which marks the 50th anniversary of its foundation this year, seeks an independent Basque state created out of northern Spain and southern France.

The group is blamed for more than 820 deaths since it launched an armed campaign in 1968. ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.