To Ban a Peace Demonstration

So far a couple of news outlets have reported that the Basque Autonomous Government has banned a demostration organized by Batasuna.

Here is what BBC News tells us about it on its article "Basques ban Batasuna march":

The Basque interior ministry said that under Spanish law Batasuna was banned from holding rallies.

Batasuna was banned in 2003 for refusing to condemn violence by Eta - which is alleged to have killed more than 800 people in its campaign.

It was the first political party to be banned in Spain since it returned to democracy after the death of dictator General Francisco Franco in 1975.

Seems like Arnaldo Otegi, leader of Batasuna, wanted to use the opening of the summer festivities in San Sebastian to ask for the political group to take part of the summits scheduled later this year aimed at a peaceful resolution, read on:

He called the rally for Sunday, when San Sebastian starts its summer festival. He said the aim of the march was to push for Batasuna's inclusion in proposed all-party talks on the future of the Basque region.

The interior ministry said another reason for banning the demonstration was that previous demonstrations by the party that were allowed to go ahead had resulted in violence.

With this last paragraph, seems like the BBC had an urge to copy the tabloid style, if you don't believe me, just read the caption on the picture, it says "Some Batasuna sympathizers have marched for peace".

Which is correct, they had march not only for peace, but peacefully, too bad the Ertzaintza is so inclined to meet peaceful demonstrations with violent acts that can be considered use of excesive force.

But as bad as the BBC looks with those two lines, nothing compares to the venom that Expatica applies to its heading "Basque separatist party's 'peace' march gets banned".

Quote-unquote peace?

They do provide with what the Neo Francoist PP members and the PSOE think of the whole thing:

On Wednesday, though, the government in Vitoria decided to outlaw the Sunday demonstration. In a statement, the interior department said its decision had been based on a ruling by the Audiencia Nacional which concluded Batasuna has no right to call gatherings as an illegal body.

The Basque government also said it feared the public order would be disturbed by the demonstration.

Earlier in the day, both socialist and conservative parties criticised Batasuna over the march.

The conservative PP called for the march to be banned while PSOE's general secretary Diego López Garrido said Batasuna had no credibility calling for peace or democracy since it still refused to condemn violence or demand ETA disarms.

He, the PSOE always manages to forget about the GAL when talking about violence.

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