- Under the motto "The Way Home Close", Sare and peacemakers and peacemakers will jointly rally after two years of pandemic inactivity. They will also have to claim “hope for dignity and coexistence”, in addition to the repatriation of Basque prisoners.
On Tuesday, the demonstration on 7 January, reorganized after two years of pandemic, was presented. Sare and Bake Bidea - Peacemakers announce that they will do so together and that they will all meet in Bilbao – Bayona will not have demonstrations, as on previous occasions. Thousands of people will meet in defence of the rights of Basque prisoners and the organisation has announced at a press conference that they will continue to work: “We will make every effort to ensure that the ordinary penitentiary policy is implemented and, ultimately, that the emergency situation that has been implemented so far is brought to an end.”
They stress the importance of “now” the January demonstration: “Now it’s time! Because there are many outstanding goals, and their solution depends on the impetus of the Basque political and trade union majorities, but also fundamentally on social mobilization”. They call mobilization in the afternoon, as in previous years: The departure will be at 17:00 from Autonomy Street in Bilbao to the City Hall. They want to spread the “Message for peace, coexistence and solution” under the motto Camino a Casa cerca. In addition, an event will be held in the Euskalduna Palace in cooperation with different political parties, trade unions and organisations.
End of the policy of remoteness
Networks and Peacemakers stress that in recent years progress has been made in the rights of prisoners and their families. “We are on the threshold of ending one of the rights violations suffered for decades: the end of the removal policy.” They have praised this achievement by recalling that there are still nineteen remote prisoners. They also stress that in the Northern Basque Country they have been included in the “perspective of a new stage” after the conditional release of Ion Parot and Jakes Esnal.
However, they warn that in the French and Spanish States there are “pressure groups” that “have a great interest in perpetuating confrontation and suffering”. They mention the Spanish National Court, which is blocking evictions of prisoners through the Public Prosecutor's Office. The organizers of the massive march in January reaffirm that they will continue to fight until the arrival of all Basque prisoners.