Six people from the Basque city of Donostia have been finally detained due to political reasons. Oier Lorente, Egoi Alberdi, Mikel Arretxe, Aitor Olaizola, Ekaitz Ezkerra and Adur Fernández were the detained, after Naikari Otaegi and Imanol Vicente refused to participate in the so-called "Aske Gunea" (Space for Freedom, in Basque). More than 800 people were alongside them awaiting the security forces after the Spanish National Court ordered their detention last Monday.
The only crime of Egoi, Imanol, Oier, Adur, Mikel, Aitor, Ekaitz and Naikari was their involvement in a Basque separatist organization called Segi, which is considered "terrorist" by Spain despite its merely political activities. For more details regarding their case, please read my post «There are no political prisoners in Spain», written on 10 April.
Some video footages of their detention show a violent attitude of the Ertzaintza towards the hundreds of people who gathered at the Boulevard of Donostia. Furthermore, the police had even menaced those who opposed the detentions with "legal or administrative consequences", according to a video broadcasted by the same police that has been released by Naiz digital newspaper.
Meanwhile, all the media who were covering the event have been expelled from the area where the gathering was taking place. Ertzaintza have even attacked the Basque journalist Lander Arbelaitz from Argia weekly magazine, despite he was carrying his accreditation and shouting that he was a journalist. He has been able to record the aggresive behaviour of the police in the following video. He also has written a chronicle of these tense moments on his personal blog (in Basque).
The crackdown by Basque police and the following detentions came after three days of peaceful resistance by hundreds of people who gathered at the Boulevard in Donostia, close to the city hall. Lots of them also staid there at night, reaching numbers of more than 800 last night and up to 2,000 yesterday afternoon. They gathered there in order to protect the 8 convicted in every moment, night and day. There were mainly young people, organizating different activities such as concerts or poetry reading. Furthermore, it has been a magnificent example of peaceful struggle and civil disobedience which prevented their detention twice before it happened today. At the third time, Ertzaintza started removing demonstrators one to one, while those who still remained at the site of the protest lied on the ground and peacefully resisted the police. However, security forces cracked down on some of them violently and detained 2 more people for having resisted the authority. The next video shows the last 20 minutes of Aske Gunea, until the 6 youths have been detained.
Even though many of us have not been able to be there and show our solidarity with these 8 young boys and girls, to follow those events throught the media and social networks has been very touching. They have been finally detained, but the record of this experience will remain for long. What happened in Donostia was more than a gathering in support of people having been unfairly sentenced to lenghty prison days. It was a proof of the strenght of Basque society's commitment for non-violence. We will remember what happened there as an example of resistence against repression, political trials and the lack of human rights. Nevertheless, the struggle for peace and freedom in the Basque Country will last for long, as the Spanish state does not show any willingness to end this kind of abuses against human rights. Despite all the obstacles, peace, democracy and human rights will win.
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