FRANCE: BASQUE NATIONALISTS ARRIVE

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Spanish/Nat Thousands of Basque nationalists from Spain crossed into France on Thursday in a convoy of cars decorated with Basque flags, for a series of protests during this weekend's European Union summit. They want to highlight their demands for recognition as a people and the right to decide their region's future. Nationalists want to unite the four Basque provinces in Spain with the three in southwestern France. French and Spanish police stood by at the Biriatou crossing as hundreds of hooting cars festooned with the green, white and red Basque flags crossed the border around midday. Basque nationalists from both sides of the border have planned a series of protests to coincide with the summit. Security is tight in Biarritz where the 15 European Union leaders open a summit on Friday. There had been speculation that the French and Spanish police would close the border during the summit but instead the convoy of vehicles was allowed through. Some buses were stopped and the luggage bays searched, before being allowed to continue. Thursday's cortege set off from Txingundi, near Irun in Spain with many cars decorated with posters for Euskal Herritarrok, the political wing of ETA. Some three thousand police officers have cordoned off the center of the Biarritz for the summit, and are also manning roadblocks around the seaside city. All the Basque protests are being held in nearby Bayonne because of the heavy security in Biarritz. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) "We want to protest the Europe that is being constructed. Tomorrow they will start debating the letter of the new laws of this Europe. In this letter they don't even respect the political, social, cultural or linguistic rights of smaller countries such as the Basque country. We are also against the economic desires of this Europe which is blatantly in favour of globalisation." SUPER CAPTION: Joseba Pemach, official spokesman for Euskal Herritarrok Basque nationalists hope to use the summit to highlight their demands for recognition as a people and the right to decide their region's future. There are four Basque provinces in Spain and three in southwestern France. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) "In a way they are selling the summit to all the world as if it is happening in the French state. We want to remind everyone that it is in fact happening in the Basque country - a country of six provinces that are unfortunately split by the Pyrenees. Any journalist or politician can see that there exists here a different culture and language and more importantly a people that wants to be together." SUPER CAPTION: Joseba Pemach, official spokesman for Euskal Herritarrok In France, the debate is purely political but in Spain, where the Basque region enjoys considerable autonomy, separatists belonging to the ETA armed group have waged a decades-old struggle for a Basque homeland. The Basque problem has taken on a new urgency since ETA, which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, ended a 14-month ceasefire in December and restarted a campaign of bombing and killing in Spain. Since then, the group has been blamed for 14 deaths, most recently for Monday's shooting of a regional prosecutor in Granada, southern Spain. ETA has killed around 800 people since 1968 when it began fighting for an independent state that would straddle France and Spain. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/a2e646da0e825a132cbdba70224a13ab Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork