About a thousand people climbed Saturday morning, May 8 a dozen mountains located in the French Basque country in support of Basque prisoners, announced a collective of pacifist activists.
Read also: In the Basque Country, Basque language progresses
The activists deployed banners on the summits demanding the release of Basque detainees, but also "
the end of the exceptional measures for former prisoners
" and "
the return to the Basque country of the exiles
", detailed to AFP Emilie Martin, spokesperson for the pacifist collective Bake Bidea. "
The steps taken so far have a clear objective: to solve the situation of Basque prisoners and move towards living together and peace (...) Time is running out
", underlines the organization in a
press
release.
These climbs were organized to "
claim loud and clear that building peace means resolving the causes and consequences of the conflict,
" adds Bake Bidea while paying tribute to one of his spokespersons who died on the night of Friday to Saturday at the age of 69, Mixel Berhocoirigoin, a local figure of peasant unionism and involved in the process of resolving the Basque conflict.
After the opening of negotiations with the French government, but above all the disarmament of the organization on April 8, 2017, then the announcement of its dissolution a year later after 60 years of existence, activists from organizations such as Bake Bidea and the Artisans of Peace are calling for the immediate release of detainees who have been imprisoned for more than 30 years or who are seriously ill, such as Jakes Esnal, Ion Kepa Parot or Ibon Fernandez Iradi.
“
Our momentum will continue for the weeks and months to come,
” emphasizes Bake Bidea.
The organization had already gathered in January 2000 people who had formed a human chain in Bayonne and announced for July 10 a new march of 31 km between Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques.
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