Radical Basque nationalists have called for protests after Spanish police arrested almost all the top members of a party banned for links to ETA rebels.
Police detained 22 leaders of the illegal Batasuna party during a meeting in the Basque town of Segura last night.
The arrests were ordered by Spain's best-known judge, Baltasar Garzón, who is investigating Batasuna links to ETA.
Batasuna's top leader, Arnaldo Otegi, has been in prison since June for praising ETA, which has killed more than 800 people in four decades of struggle for independence from Spain.
The latest detentions show Spanish authorities are determined to get tougher with radical nationalists as calls for independence are shaking mainstream politics in the Basque country.
Posters calling for demonstrations tonight have appeared in Basque villages and the Basque newspaper, Gara, which sympathises with Batasuna, called the arrests 'a declaration of war'.
