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Frustrated Basques see their region heldto ransom by a few diehard insurgents

By Victoria Burnett in San Sebastian

Financial Times, Jan 26, 2007

Little is left to the imagination regarding the political tendencies of the clientele at Herria tavern in San Sebastian, an elegant seaside town in northern Spain's Basque region. Above the bar hang photographs of 12 imprisoned members of Eta, the violent separatist group that bombed the Madrid airport on December 30, ending a nine-month ceasefire.

Three clay pots chained to the beer tap collect donations for prisoners' families and groups that lobby for their release. Stacked behind the bar is merchandise that helps to fill the coffers of the hardline nationalist movement and, authorities be-lieve, Eta: green and red Basque flags, lighters and mugs bearing the black eagle that is a nationalist emblem and grey socks calling for Basque independence.

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