Page 8 - ARUBA TODAY

A8 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 3 May 2018

ETA militants declare end to armed fight for Basque homeland

By ARITZ PARRA vowed to keep investigat- several sources in Basque
MADRID (AP) — The Basque ing unresolved crimes at- separatist circles told AP.
separatist group ETA said tributed to ETA. Founded in 1958 during
it has dismantled its orga- "ETA obtained nothing Gen. Francisco Franco's re-
nizational structure after a through its promise to stop gime, the group grabbed
bloody six-decade inde- killing, and it will obtain global headlines when it
pendence campaign that nothing by announcing killed the dictator's anoint-
killed hundreds in Spain, what they call dissolution," ed successor, Prime Minister
taking the final step in dis- he told reporters. Luis Carrero Blanco, in 1973.
banding after disarming In the letter, dated April It remained active long af-
last year and bringing an 16 and published first by ter Franco's death in 1975.
end to one of Europe's the eldiario.es news web- In all, the group killed 853
bloodiest nationalist con- site, ETA noted its dissolu- people over four decades,
flicts in recent times. tion "doesn't overcome the according to a tally by the
The Spanish government conflict that the Basque Spanish Interior Ministry.
vowed Wednesday not to Consuelo Ordeonez, sister of Grerorio Ordonez who was killed Country maintains with ETA also injured more than
abandon its investigation in 1995 by the armed separatist armed group ETA, center, holds Spain and with France." 2,600 people, kidnapped
of crimes from the group's up a sign reading, ''ETA killed 853 innocent people. They want "The Basque Country is now 86 and threatened hun-
violent past, saying security to put the sign on zero'', beside to Maite Pagazaurtundua, left before a new opportunity dreds more, according
her, Joaquin Echeverria and Martin Alonso, left, during a tribute
forces would "continue to for all people killed by ETA, in the Basque city of San Sebastian, to finally close the conflict to the latest government
pursue the terrorists, wher- northern Spain, Wednesday, May 2, 2018, prior to the dissolution and build a collective fu- count.
ever they may be." of the armed group. ture," the organization said. In what became known as
ETA, whose initials stand for Associated Press "Let's not repeat the errors, Spain's "dirty war" on terror,
"Euskadi ta Askatasuna" or let's not allow for problems at least 28 separatists were
"Basque Homeland and Press, ETA said it had "com- But it took six more years to rot." killed by death squads set
Freedom" in the Basque pletely dissolved all its struc- for the group to give up It wasn't immediately clear up by members of Spain's
language, killed more than tures," and acknowledged most of its arsenal and why the letter took more security forces to perform
850 people during its vio- its responsibility in failing to another year for it to an- than two weeks to become extrajudicial killings of ETA
lent campaign to create solve the Basque "political nounce that its remaining public. A spokesman for militants. A few dozen more
an independent state in conflict." members — numbering the Basque regional gov- were killed by independent
northern Spain and south- With its support waning and fewer than 50, according ernment told the AP that extreme-right paramilitary
ern France, most of them stepped-up police opera- to Spanish officials, most it received ETA's letter "a groups.
during the tumultuous 1980s tions on both sides of the of them living overseas — few days earlier." The offi- Civil society groups that
when Spain was transition- Pyrenees undermining its would be disbanding this cial, who wasn't authorized have overseen ETA's stag-
ing from dictatorship to de- ability to wage an armed week.Responding to the to be named in media re- gered finale scheduled
mocracy. struggle, ETA had already announcement, Spanish ports, declined to elabo- an event in the southern
In a letter sent to Basque declared in 2011 a "defini- Interior Minister Juan Ig- rate. French town of Cambo-les-
regional institutions and ob- tive end" to its armed cam- nacio Zoido stuck with the A final public declaration Bains on Friday to mark the
tained by The Associated paign. government's hard line and was expected Thursday, organization's end.q

109 in custody in Paris over May Day violence

Bank less than 24 hours af- infiltration among normal Paris Police Prefect Michel
ter six cars were burned, a protesters meant that the Delpuech said "the desire
McDonald's restaurant was ability of the authorities to of the radical activists was
smashed up and automo- stop the violence without to spiral the day out of con-
bile shops were vandalized. threatening the safety of trol."
"We're searching for the the public was hampered. Opposition figures seized
ringleaders," Collomb said, "We couldn't intervene upon the absence of Ma-
adding that such acts "will while there were people in cron, who was on a visit to
not go unpunished." front of the Black Bloc ac- Australia, to paint an im-
Authorities blamed the vio- tivists, to avoid having peo- age of disorder in a country
lence on masked attack- ple ending up wounded or without a leader amid criti-
ers from a libertarian group dead. That's the danger," cism that police did not act
called the Black Blocs that he said. quickly enough to cope
numbered around 1,200 Though several people with the violence.
people in total and were were injured — including Macron responded from
A man runs past a burning car and scooter set on fire by activ-
ists activists during the traditional May Day rally in the center of on the margins of the a police service worker — Sydney: "There is a govern-
Paris, France, Tuesday, May 1, 2018. 20,000-strong protest. and even hospitalized, Col- ment. There is a state that's
Associated Press The television images have lomb said Wednesday on being run and it will contin-
shocked the country and France 2 Television he was ue to react."
By THOMAS ADAMSON against reforms by French turned criticism toward pleased "no one was seri- Workers, students and oth-
PARIS (AP) — Some 109 President Emmanuel Ma- the Paris authorities, whom ously injured." ers marched through cities
people were in custody in cron turned violent, French some accuse of being slow French authorities could around France during the
Paris Wednesday suspect- authorities said. to react to quell the ten- not confirm a Wednes- May Day protests, aimed
ed of offenses including Interior Minister Gerard sions. day report by Iranian state at expressing discontent
carrying prohibited weap- Collomb visited the site of Collomb defended his po- television IRIB that one of over Macron's plans to
ons and firing projectiles Tuesday's heated demon- lice to the AP, saying that its cameramen suffered a overhaul some employee
after May Day protests strations in the city's Left the masked individuals' head injury. protections.q