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| Europe |
| Spaniards Urge Gov't to Skip ETA Talks |
| 2006-06-12 |
| MADRID, Spain (AP) - Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched Saturday in Madrid to demand the government not hold talks with Basque separatists. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said last month he will seek to open peace talks with ETA after the armed Basque group announced a permanent cease-fire in March. The group is blamed for more than 800 killings since 1968, although its last fatal attack was in 2003 in the violent campaign for a separate Basque homeland. Zapatero is hoping for now to build on the cease-fire by promoting dialogue between rival political groups within the northern Basque region. The government is not yet holding formal The demonstrators, including hundreds of survivors of terrorist attacks and relatives of victims, marched under banners that read: "Negotiation, not in my name" and "We want to know the truth." The rally began with a tour of city landmarks scarred by past terrorist attacks as well as the locations where Islamic militants detonated 10 bombs that ripped through four commuter trains in 2004, killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,500. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Interesting, JFM. That incident raised a lot of red flags for me ... it will be a good thing if it did so for Spaniards as well, even if belatedly. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-06-12 07:23 |
| #1 It was not tens of thousands but over a million. There is quite simple gauge for a demonstration in Madrid: the capacity of the Santiago Bernbeu stadium (100,00 seats). Governmnt pretended it was only 250,00 demonstrators (last time it told it was under 100,000) and that doesn't hold water (see above). Now the And it was not only about ETA: there were lots of placards telling "We want to know" since the more it is known about the MAdrid bombings the more itr looks like there was something shady in it: for instance from 40 suspects, thirty four were police confidents. How can it be that tghe police didn't learn what it was happenning? Or could it be that the police (did I mention that the police people who controlled the confidents are socialists?) decided to not prevent it? A thing who could explain the speed and coordination of the socialist propaganda machine in exploiting the events. |
| Posted by: JFM 2006-06-12 03:07 |