Hundreds march in Spain's Basque region for independence

0 Comments | AFP, August, 2008

MADRID (AFP) — Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Bilbao, the financial capital of Spain's northern Basque Country, on Friday to demand independence for the wealthy region.

Police offered no estimate for the number of participants but the Basque news agency Vasco Press said just over 1,000 people had taken part in the demonstration which was organised by left-wing Basque nationalists.

The Basque Country already enjoys considerable autonomy and polls show most Basques do not want to secede from Spain.

But a vocal minority is pushing for an independent Basque homeland.

The armed Basque separatist group ETA is blamed for the deaths of over 820 people in bombings and shootings in its 40-year campaign for an independent Basque state in...

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