The Spanish National Police claimed yesterday, not for the first time, to have destroyed the political structure of the Basque terrorist movement ETA, as 19 people were arrested in raids in towns across the Basque country, Navarre and Madrid. They have all been taken to Madrid for interrogation by the high-profile examining magistrate, Mr Baltasar Garzon.
The detainees are all believed to be members of Euskal Herritarrok (EH), ETA's political front, which last week abandoned its seats in the Basque parliament, in a return to the abstentionism the party had practised prior to ETA's 1998 ceasefire. The 17 men and two women are expected to be charged with ETA membership. ETA has killed 12 people since ending the ceasefire last December.
The Basque lawyer, Mr Jose Maria Matanzos, was arrested from a hotel in central Madrid only hours before he was due to defend five men accused of a foiled plot to kill the former Basque Interior Councillor, Mr Jose Maria Atutxa. The operation, which began shortly after dawn, was co-ordinated by Mr Juan Cotino, head of the National Police, who later flew to Paris for discussions with his French counterpart.
Mr Garzon led the raid on the Bilbao offices of Herri Batasuna (part of the EH coalition) and remained in the building for almost four hours. A large quantity of computer disks, files and money was taken away.
The detainees are alleged to have been members of Ekin, a group believed to link ETA and EH, formed after Mr Garzon had declared a similar group illegal. While the operation has been welcomed by the governing Popular Party (PP) and the opposition Socialists, it was condemned by Basque nationalist parties who criticised the decision to raid the offices of a legal political party.
Mr Xabier Arzalluz, president of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which is the majority partner in the Basque regional government, said: "This is the [Madrid] government's attempt to cover up the failures of the Interior Minister." He denied EH's decision to abandon the regional parliament had weakened the PNV government.
And although PP and the Socialists are considering a vote of censure against the regional government, their 30 seats would be insufficient to force its resignation and new elections.
Sinn Fein expressed concern at yesterday's arrests. "Repression and violations of human rights have never brought peace," said Mr Alex Maskey, the party's West Belfast assembly member.