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| Title | Chronology for Basques in France |
| Publisher | Minorities at Risk Project |
| Country | France |
| Publication Date | 2004 |
| Cite as | Minorities at Risk Project, Chronology for Basques in France, 2004, available at: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/469f388ab.html [accessed 27 May 2012] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
Chronology for Basques in France
| Date(s) | Item |
|---|---|
| Eight French Basques are arrested in connection with ETA terrorist attacks in Spain, thus revealing the connection between the French Basques and the ETA. Throughout the period covered in this chronology, the French government engages in a series of crackdowns on ETA terrorists. The ETA focuses its activities in Spain. | |
| Police use tear gas to break up a crowd of 1,500 Basques after nationalists set fire to French and Spanish flags near the southwestern town of Bayonne after the annual national celebration of the Basque national day. | |
| A caller claiming to represent the IK tells a Paris news agency that 163 kilos (370 pounds) of explosives will go off in the French region if jailed IK leader Philippe Bidart is not released. The caller also claims responsibility for a bombing the previous weekend. | |
| Inspector Dufourg of the Renseignements Generaux (RG), appearing on a French television program, confirms that the RG had contacted ETA leader Txomin in order to exert pressure on the IK to declare a truce in violence. | |
| The IK claims responsibility for 47 different attacks, 15 of them failing. Police are concerned by evidence that the IK is recruiting its third generation of militants, most of whom were previously unknown to the authorities. | |
| The IK claims responsibility for a string of bomb attacks on tourist sites and estate agencies in southwest France. | |
| Two bombs explode and 2 are diffused in France's Basque region a day after a French court rules that a Spanish Basque should be extradited to Spain. | |
| IK leader Bidet and 6 suspected Basque guerillas are jailed on charges of belonging to a criminal organization. | |
| Two suspected IK bombs explode in southwestern France. | |
| A bomb explodes in the southwestern town of Bayonne. | |
| Suspected IK terrorists blow up a bank in Bayonne. | |
| A Basque separatist is sentenced to 4 years in jail for a bombing last February. Following his sentence he is barred from entering the Basque region of France for 2 years. | |
| Basque nationalist receive 8% of the vote in regional elections in the Basque region. | |
| Seven French Basques, including a priest, and 3 Spanish Basques are arrested and charged with criminal association with a terrorist organization. | |
| French police diffuse 2 bombs in government buildings in southwestern France. The IK claims responsibility for the attack. | |
| Amnesty International "adopts" 3 French Basques who have been jailed for refusing to serve in the French army. | |
| IK leader Bidart goes on trial for murder along with 5 other Basques accused of complicity in the murder of 2 French policemen 10 years ago. Bidet is eventually convicted and jailed for life. | |
| Suspected Basque guerillas carry out 2 bomb attacks in southwestern France after IK leader Bidet is sentenced to life imprisonment. | |
| Police detain 4 people in connection with last month's bombings. | |
| 250 French Basques set off fireworks and play drums outside of La Sante prison in Paris to protest against the imprisonment of Basque separatists. | |
| The IK claims responsibility for their first bomb attack in Paris. | |
| Basque separatists bomb an electric facility in southwestern France. | |
| French police arrest 7 IK leaders. | |
| Eleven Frenchmen and 4 Spaniards go on trial for association with a terrorist organization. | |
| A gas pipeline between France and Spain is bombed by the IK. | |
| French police find 2 suspected IK arms caches. | |
| Three suspected IK members are arrested. About 2,000 people march through Bayonne to demand the release of Basque separatists. | |
| IK leader Bidet receives a second life sentence for the murder of a policeman 6 years ago. | |
| A suspected IK bomb explodes in southwestern France. | |
| Suspected IK terrorists seize several million francs (several hundred thousand dollars) from the safe of a transport company. | |
| A suspected IK bomb damages a train near the French-Spanish border. | |
| A suspected IK bomb damages a post office near the French-Spanish border. | |
| French President Francois Mitterrand pardons a crippled IK terrorist for humanitarian reasons. | |
| About 500 Basques demonstrate outside 2 prisons to show their solidarity with Basque prisoners. | |
| A suspected IK bomb destroys a fuel truck on a French army base in southwestern France. | |
| A suspected IK bomb blows up an army barrack in southwestern France. | |
| A suspected IK bomb damages a police station in the southwestern town of Bidart. | |
| A suspected IK bomb explodes at a French customs post on the Spanish border in southwestern France. | |
| About 100 Basques protest against France's policy against an independent Basque state during a speaking engagement by President Mitterrand in Bayonne. | |
| A suspected IK bomb explodes at a customs post on the French-Spanish border in southwestern France. | |
| Three presumed IK members are convicted of criminal conspiracy and arms violations. | |
| The French National Assembly thrown out a bid to turn the Basque portion of France, which is currently administratively joined with another French region, into a separate province. | |
| Masked youths clash with police overnight after Basque nationalist demonstrators hold a protest in Bayonne. | |
| The Iparretarrak (IK) explodes a bomb in the town of Orolon-Sainte-Marie. | |
| About 2,000 Basques rally in Paris to call for autonomy for their homeland and amnesty for Basque prisoners in French jails. | |
| A group of 20 Spanish Basque exiles defy French orders to stay away from French Basque country and seek refuge in a cathedral there. | |
| Suspected Basque nationalists explode a bomb in a southwestern French town. | |
| At least 17 Basque separatists are arrested in France in a plot to kill Spanish King Juan Carlos. | |
| A Spanish newspaper reports that the Spanish government financed or bribed a network of French police to collaborate in illegal killings of Basque separatists in southern France during the 1980s in what has become known as Spain's "dirty war" against the Basques. The French government denies the allegations. | |
| Dozens of relatives of Spanish Basque prisoners and refugees in France begin a 24 hour fast to protest a forthcoming trial of suspected ETA members. (The ETA is the Spanish Basque resistance group.) | |
| 81 people suspected of collaborating with the Spanish Basque ETA rebel organization go on trial in France. About 30 people demonstrate outside the court. | |
| Three bombs go off in Bordeaux over the course of four months. Police blame the attack on the IK, but have no proof. | |
| Over 500 Spanish and French Basque nationalists riot in Bayonne, burning the French flag and breaking windows, to protest police violence in the capture of three suspected members of the ETA.(Agence France Presse 8/3/96) | |
| French Police arrest 170 Basque demonstrators, who had planned to rally outside the Palace of Justice and the Pont Neuf in support of jailed Basque nationalists (Deutsche Press Agentur 12/28/96) | |
| A Paris court decides to jail 4 Basque militants accused of carrying out a wave of terrorist attacks in Northern Spain. Over 100 people, mostly family members and former prisoners, demonstrate to protest. (Agence France Presse 6/21/97) | |
| French police arrest three suspected members of the ETA in the town of La Rochelle. (Deutsche Press Agentur 11/6/97) | |
| Spanish police near the town of Seville arrest five members of the ETA, including two French nationals found driving a van loaded with 528 pounds of explosives, grenades, and a revolver. (Agence France Presse 3/21/98) | |
| The ETA declares an indefinite cease-fire. | |
| French police uncover two separate shipments totaling over 800 pounds of explosives, chemicals and a few arms in Southern France. The cache was believed to be part of a large purchase of over a half million dollars made by the Spanish ETA. In separate actions, police also arrested Javier Arizcuren Ruiz, the ETA's suspected military leader, and five other members of the ETA. (Agence France Presse 3/11/99 and 4/6/99 and 4/9/99) |
Topics: Basques,
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