Several roads between Ipar and Hego Euskal Herria have been cut off since 14 January to protest against the "terrorism" that the French Government links to immigrants in France. Thus, the Abertzale coalition EH Bai wanted to make its position clear: In the words of Arturo Villanueva, "for the Basques there are no borders". In total, 4,800 policemen, gendarmes and military have mobilized for this operation, which has also been criticized by the coalition for "strengthening authoritarianism".
Through the joint communiqué of EH Bai and EH Bildu, they have also denounced this new measure: "In the face of centralism, EH Bai and EH Bildu feel more than ever the need to live as a nation and as a people, to decide and to strengthen instruments and tools. Faced with this dismantling of democracy, we must undo the artificial borders and build an Basque Country that is a natural space, among all the Basques, to make the decisions of our lives".
Voter Joseba Erremunerdegi, responsible for "cross-border" relations in the Commonwealth of Iparralde, has also denounced the situation: "This decision goes against the day-to-day exchanges between the population and agents of the Basque territories, which are at the basis of the cross-border cooperation that we want to strengthen". The electorate of Euskal Herria has called on the French Government to open a dialogue between the parties.