The Basque political prisoners start a new campaign of protests

In a statement released at the beginning of this year the Euskal Preso Politikoen Kolektiboa or EPPK (Basque Political Prisoners’ Collective) announced that they are about to start a series of protests against the Spanish and French authorities prison policies. The campaign will be carried on along the whole year and will have different phases.

In the statement the Prisoner’s Collective highlights the increase of the repressive measures in the jails and the attacks against the solidarity movement on the outside. According to them this situation is part of the attempt by the Spanish state to condition the beginning of a new political cycle in the Basque Country.

The Basque prisoners want to prove to the Spanish and French states that repression is fruitless and at the same time want to help boost the national liberation process, becoming part of it through their protest campaign and encouraging all political and social actors in the Basque Country to be part of it.

The prisoners demand the release of all the seriously ill comrades and those who have already done their sentences as well as the end of solitary confinement as a matter of urgency. They also demand the political status and their repatriation to the jails in the Basque Country as a first step towards a future amnesty.

During the first week of the year they will be informing about the new campaign and then protests such as lock-ins and hunger strikes will follow.