Basque Prisoners Solidarity Picket

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Tuesday July 01, 2008 18:46 by Sean Mac Bradaigh - éirígí

GPO 1PM

éirígí and the Dublin Basque Committee are organising a joint picket outside the GPO on Dublin's O'Connell Street at 1pm on Saturday July 5th.

There are currently more then 700 Basque political prisoners being held in jails accross the Basque country, Spain and France. Amongst this number are not only those who have been involved in the armed campaign for Basque freedom, but also members of Basque political parties that have been proscribed by the Spanish government in recent years. Indeed, even those who have acted as advocates for these political prisoners have found themselves imprisoned as the Spanish authorities seek to crush the Basque liberation movement.

Many prisoners have been deliberatly moved to jails hundreds of miles from their homes as part of the Spainish government's policy of 'dispersal'. Jails in locations as remote as the Canary islands regularly hold Basque prisoners. The policy of 'dispersal' is an additional pubishment aimed at the families and friends of the prisoners as much as at the prisoners themsleves.

In response to this inhumane treatment the prisoners have embarked on a series of protests including use of the tactic of hunger-strike. For many in Ireland the parallels between the Basque jail struggle and previous, and contemporary, Irish jail struggles are striking.

éirígí in conjunction with the Dublin Basque Committee are organising a solidarity picket to highlight the plight of Basque political prisoners. It will take place outside of Dublin's GPO at 1pm on Saturday July 5th.

All welcome.