Some 250,000 Spaniards of all political shades took to the streets again last night to demonstrate against the Basque terrorist movement, ETA.
The largest demonstration - under the banner "Bakea Behar Dugu" ("We Need Peace", in the Basque language) - wended through the same streets of Bilbao where in July over 100,000 people protested at the kidnap and subsequent murder of the young local politician, Miguel Angel Blanco.
Mr Blanco's death prompted some of the biggest demonstrations ever seen in Spain when an estimated six million people protested the length and breadth of the country. Basques last night wanted to show the world that the spirit of Mr Blanco's home town, Ermua, is still alive.
Yesterday's protests were prompted by the killing of a member of the Basque police force, the Ertzainza, who was shot in the chest outside the new Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by two terrorists. The terrorists were posing as gardeners and were attempting to conceal 10 anti-tank and two antipersonnel grenades in flower beds in the museum forecourt.
The Ertzaina member, Mr Jose Mara Aguirre (35), died 26 hours later. A local security official said ETA was planning to detonate the grenades by remote control tomorrow morning when the museum would be packed with dignitaries, including King Juan Carlos, attending the formal inauguration ceremonies.
"They did not necessarily want to create great loss of life but they wanted to destroy the very public event at a time when they could be sure of maximum press attention," he said.
Police detained one of the gunmen after the shooting and have named a second man they wish to question. In the security clampdown which followed the shooting, they arrested a third man and a woman.
At the same time, security forces discovered a large arsenal of explosives, weapons and documentation, including the names of more than 30 possible targets in the judiciary, police force and political circles, in an isolated farmhouse in the nearby town of Guernica.
The decision to place the new $150 million Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao was a controversial one, although the majority of the Basques have welcomed it. Police have always realised that it would offer a tempting target for terrorists and security throughout its construction has been tight.
It is believed that the ETA leader, Soledad Iparreguirre, had given orders for an attack on the building in 1994. A spokesman for ETA's political wing, Herri Batasuna, lashed out at the Guggenheim yesterday, calling it a "symbol of American imperialism".
There is a real fear that the latest failed attack will discourage people from visiting the museum, with its priceless collection of 20th-century art. Ms Ana Astariz (36), a Bilbao secretary, spoke for many yesterday when she said: "I don't know how ETA thinks that they can help their cause by blowing up the Guggenheim. They are so out of touch. It is something the city was so proud of."
The attempted Guggenheim grenade attack and the shooting of Mr Aguirre comes as the trial of the leaders of Herri Batasuna resumed in Madrid this week. The 23 men and women who comprise the entire leadership of HB are charged with "supporting a terrorist group" by distributing a pro-ETA video as part of their campaign before last year's general election.
Mr Carlos Totorico, mayor of Miguel Angel Blanco's home town of Ermua, told The Irish Times last week that he believed there was a group of people who were not necessarily terrorists, but who live off ETA. "People like their lawyers, Herri Batasuna, the exiles and their newspaper, Egin - they would all have to go out and find work if ETA disappeared."
Reuters adds: Earlier a Spanish prosecutor had asked Madrid's Supreme Court to jail a former Socialist government minister for 23 years on charges stemming from a "dirty war" against ETA in the 1980s.
State prosecutor Mr Jose Maria Luzon demanded the sentence for former interior minister, Mr Jose Barrionuevo, a close ally of the former Socialist prime minister, Mr Felipe Gonzalez, who was responsible for fighting ETA during an illegal campaign of kidnappings, bombings and murders from 1983 to 1987.