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INPRIMATU
A bicycle march in Bilbao to denounce the increase in military budgets
  • The bicycle march will start from Bilbao and pass in front of the companies ITP Aero in Barakaldo and Sener in Getxo, because these two companies "are in charge of military production", according to the organizers. It will be a protest to denounce the increase in arms spending that has been going on lately.
Unai Lomana Uribezubia 2025eko apirilaren 24a
Bizikleta martxaren aurkezpena. Kakitzat

The bicycle march, convened by several antimilitarist, ecological and internationalist groups, will depart on Saturday at 10:30 in front of the Bilbao Palace of the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. The march has been organized to denounce the military spending that has been growing in recent times and to criticize the subsidies that the Basque weapons companies receive. In addition, it has been denounced that the EAE is "the third most billed autonomy of the [Spanish] State for the sale of arms".

This Wednesday was presented by the groups Viva Viva, Revolving, Sol, Ecologistas en Acción, Kakaiz, KEM-MOC and Comités Internationalista, organizers of the Seventeenth Bicycle March against War and Military Spending and Industry. Following the news, several Basque companies will be denounced in detail by ITP Aero in Barakaldo and Sener in Getxo.

What the collectives are asking is to stop the production of weapons and direct production to the civilian sector – as Orbea did at the time, moving from the production of short weapons to the production of bicycles – as well as not to incur any more military expenses. In the presentation of the march, 206 Basque companies are declared to be "the ones that benefit from military production". They say that in the ranking of arms production in the Spanish State, EAE ranks third, "with profits of around 150 million euros and annual turnover of more than 6 billion euros, only behind Madrid and Andalusia".

The organizers of the march denounced the growing "institutional involvement" with Basque companies in this sector, exposing the weapons industry "to cuts in health, pensions, equality policies, social benefits and access to decent housing and an increase in the cost of living". In addition, it has been certified that 80% of Basque military production goes to the ministries of the Armed Forces of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Mexico, Brazil, the United States and Spain.