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INPRIMATU
Thousands of people asking to untie knots for prisoners
  • On Saturday afternoon, thousands of people in Bilbao asked for a solution to the issue of Basque prisoners. The street was called to the demonstration by the Street and the Prisoners to the street. The road from Casilla to Bilbao City Hall is under the motto “It’s time”.
Maddi Txintxurreta @mtxintxurreta 2018ko apirilaren 23a
Larunbateko manifestazioko irudia (Arg: @AsierAspuru)

Antton López Kubati, spokesman for Kalera Kale, spoke before the demonstration, and in addition to expressing “support, solidarity and love” to Basque political prisoners, ETA said in a statement last week that the request for forgiveness could be an important step towards improving the situation of prisoners.

In fact, the demonstration took place in a special context. Cuba has said that the Basque Country is entering a “new historical phase”. Remember, there are those who are suffering: “Prisoners, deportees and exiles”: “We want to put an end to this suffering and make a path of peace, coexistence and reconciliation among all. The prisoners’ collective and the nationalist left are ready for this, and we hope that the other political and social actors will also be ready.”

The need to move from the first grade

Last week for the first time the National Court denied a prisoner the change from first to second grade, and the demonstrators in Bilbao have demanded that they finish with the first grade, which is the first “obstacle” to overcome. “The state, led by its government, will try to block the way to this right. We must transform these obstacles, these denials, into a political weapon that unites us as a people to achieve peace, freedom and coexistence,” said Urtza Alkorta, spokesman for Kale, at the end of the demonstration.

The Basque prisoners’ collective have claimed the right to access the “ordinary legislation” and recall that when they started the process last year, 90% of the prisoners that make up the CPP opted for ordinary legislation.

Alorta concluded the demonstration: “Listen carefully to those who need to listen: they are political prisoners. Their struggle is political, so the solution to the Basque conflict must also be political.”