BARCELONA – Pasquall Maragall, leader of the Catalonian regional government, on Monday invited ETA to give up its armed struggle.

Maragall also called on all Catalans to express solidarity with the rest of Spain and show their contempt for the Basque terrorist group.

The move came as a march was planned for next Sunday in Barcelona against ETA.

It follows the truce announced last week by ETA which said it would not attack targets in Catalonia.

The declaration followed a scandal in which the deputy leader of the Catalan regional government, Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, was forced to resign after admitting he held secret meetings with ETA.

The scandal damaged the Left in the run-up to next month’s 14 March general election.

The Catalan regional government was forced to appoint a new deputy leader, Josep Bargalló, who is from the same left-wing ERC party as Carod.
 
ETA has killed more 800 people since it started in 1959 but is widely seen to be in crisis after a series of significant arrests of key leaders.

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news