Shadow of violence spreads in Spain

Press, 12 January 1977, Page 6

Shadow of violence spreads in Spain

NZPA-Reuter Madrid. The Spanish Government is continuing its efforts to bring about a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy under the spreading shadow of violence in the northern Basque provinces. In the first formal meeting between the Government and the Opposition group. Opposition leaders will today call on the Prime Minister (Mr Suarez) to release al! political prisoners and recognise all political parties. At the same time, the Cortes (Parliament) — most of whose members were appointed by the late General Franco — will discuss plans to dismantle the official trade union organisation, one of the pillars of the late general’s system of autocratic rule. While the Government continues with its avowed plan of peacefully negotiating

the change-over, violence has flared yet again in the troubled northern Basque areas. Four people, including two policemen, were injured in the suburbs of the port of Bilbao during the second consecutive night of rioting. The police used rubber bullets and tear-gas to disperse thousands of demonstrators protesting against the death of a youth, aged 15, during a pro-amnesty rally the night before. The main road to Bilbao was blocked for several hours by demonstrators using commandeered buses and lorries. Workers in the industrial belt around Bilbao are expected to strike for the second day running in protest against alleged police methods and the death of the youth, Jose Manuel Iglesias Sanchez. The Government indicated

last month that it wanted to grant an amnesty to appease the Basques, but said it could not do so because the release of political prisoners was one of the conditions set by the kidnappers of the President of the Council of State (Mr Antonio Maria Oriol y Urquijo). A member of a wealthy Basque family and a former Minister of Justice, Mr Oriol was kidnapped on December 11 by an organisation calling itself the First of October Anti-Fascist Resistance Group.

The G.R.A.P.O.’s political wing has claimed responsibility for an incident at a military factory on the outskirts of Madrid, where three factorv guards were shot and wounded after an abortive attempt to persuade workers to come out on a pro-amnesty strike.