Spain detains 34 Basque separatists (Roundup)

Nov 24, 2009, 10:04 GMT

   Vitoria, Spain - Spanish police overnight detained at least 34 suspected supporters of the militant Basque separatist group ETA, interior ministry sources confirmed Tuesday.

   The suspected members of the illegal youth organization Segi were held in the northern Basque region and neighbouring Navarre.

   The detainees included several suspected leaders of Segi. Police searched more than 90 addresses, seizing documents, computer materials, and materials for making explosive devices used in acts of street violence.

The arrests dismantled a structure which had acted as a pool of new ETA activists, the sources claimed.

   The Spanish judiciary has stepped up pressure on organizations linked to ETA, which has killed more than 820 people since 1968.

   Segi was outlawed in 2007, following a 2003 ban on the radical separatist party Batasuna, which was confirmed recently by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.