ETA prisoners call for peaceful route to independence

HUNDREDS of jailed Basque militants called on the terrorist separatist group ETA to turn away from the use of violence to achieve independence.

A group representing 700 ETA prisoners in Spain and France made the appeal in a statement on Friday, adding that they should be granted amnesty.

The call endorsed an agreement reached late last year by pro-independence Basque parties, chiefly the remnants of ETA’s banned political wing, Batasuna (Unity), and civic groups which said Basque independence should be achieved by peaceful means, not by car bombs and bullets.

The Madrid government of Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero described the latest statement as significant but insufficient.