Spain's Basque region, known there as Euskal Herria or Euskadi, faces new tensions as supporters of hunger-striking convict say government has failed to push for lasting peace, conservative victims' families group pressures government to cease all negotiation with ETA or its banned political wing Batasuna. Demonstrations turned violent in Bilbao as demonstrators demanded a solution to the crisis.

The Guardian newspaper reports "Doctors treating the emaciated body of Inaki de Juana Chaos in a secure unit in a hospital in Madrid said his feeding tube had been removed to allow him to continue his hunger strike. De Juana, who has served a 20-year sentence for leading Eta's 'Madrid Commando' unit, which killed 25 people during the Eighties, has been on hunger strike since November."

There is real concern that failure to resolve this situation, or allowing De Juana to die in protest, could inflame the region in a new wave of violence and create a propaganda tool for the radical elements in the Basque separatist movement, which appears to have splintered in strategy if not in organization over the last two years.

There have been calls from leading government ministers to act to free De Juana, whose original prison sentence has already expired and who is eligible for parole under his recent conviction for publishing inflammatory articles. Conservative hardliners say regardless of this timetable, no terrorist should be granted special treatment for protesting against the system that punishes those involved in terrorist activity. [s]