Gernika Bombing Commemoration Events

by Diarmuid Breatnach - Personal Capacity Sat Apr 14, 2012 09:52

The killing of a young Basque football fan days ago by the repressive Basque police force the Ertzaintza is an illustration of how Franco's spirit lives on.

According to eyewitnesses, fans were watching a Bilbao Athletic game against Schalke on TV in a leisure area when three van loads of the "zipayos" turned up and started firing rubber projectiles, one of which killed the youth. They also struck people with batons, even those trying to help the youth.

In the aftermath, the mass media repeated police sources without question: that bottles had been broken, that there had been a fight, that the youth had fallen, that they had been called. The only part of these stories partly-substantiated by witnesses was the broken bottles, these were from those thrown at the police AFTER they had fired on the celebrating crowd. Thankfully, the spirit of Basque resistance lives on and there have been demonstrations of grief and anger since the killing.

This is not the first death caused by the "zipayos" although they are more usually seen in action against pro-independence Basque leftists. The Ertzaintza must be dissolved and democratic organisations and individuals should always press for the dissolution of repressive forces and, if they ever gain power, completely dismantle them.