36 people arrested in Basque region
Tuesday, 24 November 2009 11:3536 members of an outlawed youth group, believed to have ties to Basque separatist group ETA, have been arrested.
Police carried out 35 searches in the Basque region as well as in neighbouring Navarre, which is partially Basque-speaking, as part of an operation targeting the Segi group.
Authorities often blame Segi members for street violence in the Basque region such as torching bank machines, burning buses and throwing Molotov cocktails.
Such violence has become a symbol of underground support for ETA and the group is considered to be one of ETA's main sources of recruitment.
A number of leaders of the Segi group are thought to have been detained in today's raids.
ETA is blamed for more than 800 deaths in a 41-year campaign for independence in the Basque region of northern Spain and southwestern France.
