Occupying Forces

This is the XXI century and smack in the middle of "civilized and democratic" Europe, then the Spanish repressive system decides to occupy an entire Basque town for over three hours to make it known that Madrid does not approve of the Summer Camp organized by a Basque youth organization.

They take over the entire town, they randomly stop people to question them and check their id's, throughout the whole ordeal they behave in an arrogant and rude way and they even refuse to inform the mayor of what is going on.

Does that respond the obtuse and asinine question of why the Basques want independence?

Here is the note at Berria:

Spanish Civil Guard officers occupy Etxarri-Aranatz due to Summer School

After the town had been taken over for three hours, the organisers decided to suspend the activities

Alberto Barandiaran – ETXARRI-ARANATZ (Navarre)

At midday yesterday Spanish Civil Guard and plain-clothes officers staged a three-hour occupation of the town of Etxarri-Aranatz (Navarre), because of a Young People's Summer School being held there, and proceeded to identify many people. The town's main street was full of officers openly carrying weapons and when the mayor asked for an explanation for the show, they told him that they were "routine, precautionary exercises". "Besides, the way they told us was as if they were doing it for our own security," complained the mayor, Juan Bautista Marinelarena.

Marinelarena stressed that the occupation "was an attack on the whole town of Etxarri-Aranatz" and that the attitude of the security forces was unacceptable. "It has been a provocation and could have had serious consequences if the citizens of Etxarri had not acted in a mature way," added the mayor.

Emilie Laplacette, speaking on behalf of the organisers, stressed that it had been "yet another chapter in the series of attacks on young people". "But we want to make it quite clear that they will never block the course the young people have embarked on," she said.

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