Overview

• Sortu leader Arkaitz Rodríguez told thousands in Anaitasuna that Spain must recognize the Basque nation and its right to decide, urging the government to seize a new opportunity for a democratic solution.
• Organizers framed Txiki and Otaegi as antifrancoist fighters, with a tightly staged event featuring symbolic tributes and the crowd singing Eusko Gudariak; Sortu estimated about 4,000 attendees.
• Parallel gatherings in Zarautz and Mondragón featured harsher rhetoric, and two masked participants burned Spanish and French flags on stage, according to local reporting.
• Victims' associations Buesa Foundation and Covite condemned the public exaltation, and prior official recognition of Txiki and Otaegi as victims in 2012 remains contested given evidence of robberies, kidnappings and killings.
• The push comes as EH Bildu negotiates statute reforms with PNV and the PSE, whose leader Eneko Andueza rejects including a right to decide, while the abertzale leadership maintains parliamentary support for Pedro Sánchez during budget talks.