OMEN
06-11-2006, 01:30 AM
MADRID: Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards rallied today to protest planned peace talks between the government and Basque separatists ETA and demanded the guerrillas lay down their arms.
Draped in Spanish flags and carrying photos of their dead, families of ETA victims joined opposition politicians in Madrid to attack Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's plan to end 38 years of guerrilla violence.
Survivors of Madrid's 2004 commuter train bombings also demonstrated with thousands of middle-class residents to demand the socialist government probe deeper the attacks that killed 191 people.
"We want to know the truth!" they chanted in Madrid's Plaza Colon.
A two-year investigation into the bombings ruled out involvement of the armed Basque group but the opposition Popular Party and victims groups maintain ETA may have played a role.
"The government has the people's support to defeat ETA but it has no support to negotiate for political gains, or allow killers to achieve political gains that have cost so many lives," PP President Mariano Rajoy told reporters.
Above him a banner read: "Negotiation! Not in my name!". ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in their fight for an independent homeland in northern Spain and south-west France.
The government declared plans to hold talks with ETA after it announced a permanent cease-fire in March.
ETA broke cease-fires twice in the 1990s and Spaniards from across the political spectrum want proof the group has abandoned violence before talks begin.
Zapatero plans to announce later this month whether ETA has stuck with their cease-fire and negotiations can start.
The former PP government failed to end ETA violence and should Zapatero succeed, he would gain a huge political boost.
The peace process hit an obstacle this week when the PP broke off co-operation with the government in protest at a planned meeting between socialist officials and Batasuna, a Basque separatist party banned for links to ETA.
Keen not to wreck peace talks, Rajoy said on Friday he would meet Zapatero over the ETA issue if the president asked him to.
Reuters
Draped in Spanish flags and carrying photos of their dead, families of ETA victims joined opposition politicians in Madrid to attack Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's plan to end 38 years of guerrilla violence.
Survivors of Madrid's 2004 commuter train bombings also demonstrated with thousands of middle-class residents to demand the socialist government probe deeper the attacks that killed 191 people.
"We want to know the truth!" they chanted in Madrid's Plaza Colon.
A two-year investigation into the bombings ruled out involvement of the armed Basque group but the opposition Popular Party and victims groups maintain ETA may have played a role.
"The government has the people's support to defeat ETA but it has no support to negotiate for political gains, or allow killers to achieve political gains that have cost so many lives," PP President Mariano Rajoy told reporters.
Above him a banner read: "Negotiation! Not in my name!". ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in their fight for an independent homeland in northern Spain and south-west France.
The government declared plans to hold talks with ETA after it announced a permanent cease-fire in March.
ETA broke cease-fires twice in the 1990s and Spaniards from across the political spectrum want proof the group has abandoned violence before talks begin.
Zapatero plans to announce later this month whether ETA has stuck with their cease-fire and negotiations can start.
The former PP government failed to end ETA violence and should Zapatero succeed, he would gain a huge political boost.
The peace process hit an obstacle this week when the PP broke off co-operation with the government in protest at a planned meeting between socialist officials and Batasuna, a Basque separatist party banned for links to ETA.
Keen not to wreck peace talks, Rajoy said on Friday he would meet Zapatero over the ETA issue if the president asked him to.
Reuters