Several thousand people protested a ban on a congress planned by outlawed Basque separatist party Batasuna in northern Spain Saturday, according to DPA. The demonstrators, including Batasuna party leader Arnaldo Otegi, gathered in front of the conference centre in the town of Barakaldo near Bilbao, where the assembly was due to take place, local radio reported. The national court in Madrid on Tuesday banned Saturday's meeting following calls from the public prosecutor and the families of victims of terrorism. Batasuna, the political wing of the militant organization ETA, was outlawed by Spain's Supreme Court in 2003 for refusing to condemn ETA's terror tactics.
