Basque leader criticises government

A leading Basque separatist said today the Spanish government’s carrot and stick approach to the troubled region would not bring peace.

Arnaldo Otegi, leader of the outlawed Batasuna nationalist party, who was released on Friday from a Madrid jail, told a press conference in the Basque seaside resort of San Sebastian that the government’s policy “doesn’t balance with a sincere wish for peace and for the resolution of the conflict.”