Basque tensions: Shots rang out in the streets of Pamplona yesterday as police fired rubber bullets into a crowd of demonstrators protesting at the killing of a shopkeeper who refused to put up a poster denouncing the Basque separatist guerrilla organisation Eta. An off-duty policeman was arrested for his murder.
The death of Angel Berroeta (61) on Saturday sent tension soaring in the already simmering Basque country and neighbouring Navarre hours before voting began in the election.
Knots of radical nationalists gathered outside polling stations in many parts of the region yesterday chanting "police murderers".
Graffiti in the old quarter of San Sebastian, a militant stronghold, proclaimed the victim a martyr, "whose only crime was to have been a Basque".
More than in other parts of Spain, Basque voters went to the polls deeply split, their emotions buffeted by violent events and conflicting sentiments.
There was solidarity with the victims of the Madrid bombing. But while some electors were angry at the People's Party government's initial efforts to blame Eta, others still suspected the Basque terrorist group of a part in the massacre.
At the Amara Berri polling station in well-to-do central San Sebastian, Ms Yuraima Elosegui gestured at the transparent ballot box on the desk in front of her, stuffed almost to the top with envelopes containing voting slips.
"We're going to have a problem fitting them all in," she said. "The turnout is definitely higher than at the same time in previous elections," Ms Elosegui said.
"I've never voted before," declared Mr Inigo Axpe, who had come along with his wife and two teenage children. "But I've voted this time, and I've voted for the (opposition) PSOE so not to have to vote for the PP.
"This is my protest against the government's lies. They lied to us over the invasion of Iraq. Now they've lied to us over the bombings. And we can't have a government that lies to the people."
A woman who would give her name only as Ainhoa said: "It makes me furious the way that every time there's something like this the government blames the Basques."
In the supercharged atmosphere of the Basque country, people are more reluctant than elsewhere in Spain to give their full names.
"Anyone round here who votes for the PP needs a bodyguard," said an elegantly dressed elderly lady, who said she was called Pilar. She said the evidence suggesting Thursday's attacks were carried out by Islamists had yet to convince her.
"It was all done to influence the election. I don't know if (Eta) didn't reach an agreement with them," she said.
Saturday's killing in Pamplona followed an argument between Mr Berroeta, two of whose sons have been imprisoned for Eta-related offences, and the wife of the police officer. Neighbours said she had tried to put up a poster attacking the guerrilla movement in Mr Berroeta's bakery.
After leaving his shop, she returned with her husband who shot the baker four times. Mr Berroeta was found to be dead on arrival in hospital. - (Guardian service)