Thousands of people gathered on Saturday afternoon in Bilbao to denounce the Basque Government's "criminalization campaign" "against the popular movement" and the "brutality of the Ertzaintza," which, according to the organizers, seeks to "limit the right to protest only to what is convenient for the interests of the PNV."
Nearly 200 collectives and social movements, according to data provided by the organization, have joined the mobilization. Among them were the Basque delegation of Global Sumud, GKS, and the Justizia Aranarentzat platform.
The demonstration took place under the slogan 'Against the criminalization by the Basque Government, let's defend civil and political rights.' The march started in Plaza Elíptica and concluded in front of the Arriaga Theater, with the participation of thousands of attendees and without any incidents being reported.
During the march, slogans were chanted against the regional police and the Basque Executive, such as "Erasoen aurrean, gogor eta tinko" (in the face of aggressions, strong and firm); "jazarpen polizialari aurre egin" (fight against police harassment); "Eusko Jaurlaritza herriaren etsai" (Basque Government enemy of the people); or "I would be ashamed to be a police officer."
The spokespersons for the mobilization, Arantza Gotxi, a member of Global Sumud Euskal Herria, and Asier Pradera, a member of Justizia Aranarentzat, explained that the event was driven by the need to "denounce the criminalization campaign that the Basque Government is carrying out against the popular movement."
Pradera lashed out at the Minister of Security, Bingen Zupiria, whom he reproached for, in his opinion, "constantly talking about social protest as a problem," when, as he argued, the real problem "is the opposite."
"Police harassment, the daily bread"
In his speech, he pointed out that "there are dozens of collectives from the popular movement suffering repression for exercising their right to protest. For those of us who fight against capitalism and for a Basque Country free from oppression, identifications, fines, and police harassment are the daily bread."
He also alluded to "how the Ertzaintza acts" in relation to the incidents recorded at Loiu airport during the arrival of members of the flotilla last May, events that, in his opinion, are part of the "criminalization campaign" which, he said, is being developed "for two reasons."
"On the one hand to weaken the popular movement, and on the other hand, to limit the right to protest only to what is convenient for the interests of the PNV, to what does not put the economic and political interests of the PNV at risk," he stressed.
The organizers have insisted that the time has come "to take to the streets against police impunity, against the repression that dozens of popular movement collectives are suffering and in favor of civil and political rights." The protest concluded in the Plaza del Teatro Arriaga, where representatives proceeded to read a manifesto.
In that text, they denounced that "in the last five years, 250 people have been identified for defending the gaztetxes and 14 have been evicted." Likewise, they indicated that "for defending the right to housing, we have had fines of more than 70,000 euros."
"We have received arrests for fighting fascism or for organizing concerts without a permit. Even for cheering on football teams, we have suffered police charges, fines, and arrests. In Loiu, the Ertzaintza also lunged at us for welcoming comrades tortured by the Zionists. We want to say clearly that it is time to end the criminalization against the popular movement and set limits on police impunity," they concluded.