Basque suspects arrested in Spain

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Spanish police have arrested 14 suspected members of Batasuna, the party banned for its links to the armed separatist group Eta.

Those detained are reportedly accused of trying to reorganise the party.

Their arrests come days after a judge banned two other political parties alleged to be Batasuna fronts.

Spain's government, which has in the past been criticised for trying to negotiate with Eta, faces a general election on 9 March.

Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is now demanding that the separatists unconditionally lay down their arms.

Anti-terrorism judge Baltasar Garzon was reported to be directing the overnight raids that led to Monday's arrests from the Basque city of San Sebastian.

The suspects were detained in several towns in the northern Basque territory and the neighbouring region of Navarra.

Charges include collaboration with a terrorist organisation and holding illegal gatherings.

Bilbao rally

Last week the same judge suspended two Basque parties, the Basque Nationalist Action and the Communist Party of Basque Lands.

Police broke up a demonstration against that decision by thousands of supporters of the parties in Bilbao on Sunday.

Several people were arrested during the protest, and one police officer was injured.

Eta has been fighting for more than three decades to win independence for the seven regions in northern Spain and south-west France that Basque separatists claim as their own.

The organisation is blamed for the deaths of at least 800 people.

Spanish authorities banned Batasuna in 2003 on the grounds that it was part of Eta.

The BBC's Danny Wood reports from Madrid that the number of operations against Basque separatists has risen since Eta announced the end of a ceasefire in June.

After this latest crackdown, most of the group's leaders are now in jail, he says.