Spain's High Court on Tuesday banned a big rally planned for Saturday by the outlawed Basque political party Batasuna and suspended all its activities for a further two years, Reuters reported. Batasuna has been outlawed by the Supreme Court for its ties with ETA, the Basque separatist group that is classed as a terrorist organisation by the United States and European Union, but a court order prohibiting its activities had run out. Saturday's rally in Barakaldo, outside Bilbao, was billed as Batasuna's first national assembly since its prohibition and the organisers hoped it would draw 15,000 people. High Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska banned the rally and ordered the suspension of Batasuna's "public, private and institutional" activities for a maximum of two years. In a court order, he declared Batasuna to be "a structure controlled by the leaders of ETA". A previous three-year ban on Batasuna's activities had expired last August although the party remained illegal. The Basque regional government, in the hands of the moderate Basque Nationalist Party PNV, runs its own police force and will be responsible for enforcing the ban.
