Basque nationalists mount rally

Hundreds of supporters of Basque nationalists barred from running in an upcoming election staged an unauthorised rally today and said Spain was not a democracy.

Dozens of riot police watched over a crowd estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 gathered on a field in this coastal city to hear speeches from politicians who represented Batasuna until the Supreme Court outlawed the party in March on grounds of terrorism.

The court said it was an integral part of the armed separatist group ETA, blamed for more than 800 deaths since the late 1960s.

The same court ruled this month that nearly 1,500 people trying to run in municipal elections on May 25 cannot because they are camouflaged members of Batasuna.

Today’s rally was called by AuB, a loose coalition of those candidates.

Speakers included Arnaldo Otegi and Pernando Barrena, former senior officials of Batasuna until it was outlawed.

“Basques who support independence are subjected to a kind of political apartheid,” Barrena said. “They are not allowed to participate (in the elections) because they support independence.”

One of the demonstrators was Lourdes Odriozola, a 35-year-old secretary who turned out with her seven-year-old son. “This is not a democracy because I cannot vote for my candidates,” she said.