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spain seeks ban on Basque party
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SPANISH police stormed the offices of a Basque political party
aligned with the outlawed ETA separatists Monday, hours after
Spain’s parliament overwhelmingly voted in favor of banning
the party.The fast-moving steps against the party, Batasuna,
began earlier Monday when a judge suspended its activities for
three years, accusing it of complicity in terrorist acts
carried out by the Basque ETA group.Parliament’s lower house
then voted 295-10 in favor of banning the party. The
government is expected to ask the Supreme Court Friday to
outlaw the party.If the justices endorse such a request,
Batasuna would be the first political party banned since the
1939-75 dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.ETA is fighting
to carve out an independent Basque homeland in lands
straddling northern Spain and southwest France.Batasuna’s
offices will be closed and the 24-year-old party will be
barred from calling public demonstrations or political rallies
or receiving a share of electoral funds. The party also cannot
run in municipal elections scheduled for May of next year.But
lawmakers representing the party will be allowed to serve out
their terms in the 75-member Basque regional parliament. The
party won 10 percent of the vote in the last Basque regional
election in May 2001, and the next regional poll must be
called by May 2005.Although Batasuna denies any links with
ETA, the government alleges that the party is a key part of
the armed group’s shadowy network of commandos, fund-raising
activities and recruitment operations.(SD-Agencies)
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