Huge rally against ETA separatists in Spain

About twenty-five-thousand people have taken part in a march in the Basque region of Spain to protest against the illegal armed separatist movement, ETA.

The march - in the town of Zarauz - followed the funeral of a local conservative politician Jose Ignacio Iruretagoyena who was killed in a car bomb attack on Friday that the police have blamed on ETA.

Earlier the Spanish Prime Minister, Jose Maria Aznar, called on people in the Basque region to show their opposition to nationalist violence.

He promised that his conservative Popular Party would not be forced out of the Basque region by ETA.

Police have also blamed ETA for a letter bombing that injured two women in the city of Vitoria early on Saturday.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service