Thousands protest Basque killing

MADRID, Spain -- Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain's northern Basque region to mourn a policeman killed in a suspected ETA attack.

The crowds gathered a day after Friday's car bomb attack which killed Inaki Totorika Vega, 25, in the Basque town of Hernani.

All political parties joined the march except for the radical, pro-independence Euskal Herritarrok alliance, considered the political wing of the Basque separatist group ETA.

Police have arrested two people suspected of involvement in the attack.

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Tensions in the Basque Country are running especially high ahead of key local elections on May 13, which officials fear could trigger even more violence intended to intimidate voters.

"We've had enough. Enough of terrorism and enough of not being able to speak freely," one Basque resident told state radio.

Thousands of protesters gathered in Totorika Vega's Basque hometown, Portugalete, marching under the banner Peace and Liberty. ETA No.

ETA -- whose 33-year-old campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France has claimed about 800 lives -- has now been blamed for 27 deaths since it called off a 14-month ceasefire in December 1999.

The protest came as French police detained a suspected senior ETA member in south west France.

A police source said the man and another ETA suspect were arrested in Landes region near Dax.

The latest arrests were not directly linked to the arrest this week in southeastern France of another man in connection with the theft of 1.6 tonnes of explosives from a warehouse near Grenoble.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Association for Peace in the Basque Country
The Basque Government
Spanish Interior Ministry

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