Thousands of people have gathered in the Basque city of Bilbao to demand that prisoners from the separatist group, ETA held in jails throughout Spain be moved to jails closer to home.

The demonstration is being led by relatives of the prisoners who say they travel hundreds of kilometres to visit them.

But the Spanish Interior Minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, said the government would not move the prisoners because it wasn't convinced that the ceasefire ETA declared in September was permanent.