Bilbao - Thousands of people in the Spanish city of Bilbao
demonstrated against the Basque separatist organization ETA on
Saturday, one day after the murder of a policeman in the region.
Under banners reading 'For Freedom, No to ETA,' the demonstrators
marched through the streets of the Basque city on Saturday evening.
On Friday, police officer Eduardo Puelles Garcia, 49, died when a
bomb attached to his car exploded in the town of Arrigorriaga.
The government blamed the attack on the militant Basque separatist
group ETA.
The killing was the first attributed to ETA since socialist Patxi
Lopez became Basque regional prime minister in May.
The victim's wife and two sons attended the march.
The regional premier had on Friday called Puelles a 'defender of
the Basques.'
Demonstrations against ETA had already taken place in other
Spanish towns and cities during the afternoon.
ETA had vowed to target the government of Lopez, who is the
first Basque premier clearly defending the region's unity with Spain,
and has announced plans to step up the fight against ETA.
Since the Basque region was granted a wide autonomy in 1979, it
had been governed by the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), which has
separatist currents.
The Basque parliament Friday observed a moment of silence in a
tribute to Puelles.
ETA, which is regarded as a terrorist group by the European
Union and United States, has killed more than 820 people in its four-
decade campaign for an independent Basque country created out of
northern Spain and southern France.
Puelles was ETA's first mortal victim in 2009. The group is blamed
for four deaths in 2008.
ETA has grown increasingly weak, with its support dwindling and
hundreds of its members detained in the recent years.
Zapatero's government tried to negotiate with ETA in 2006. The
attempt collapsed when ETA violated its ceasefire with a car bomb in
the end of the year.
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