By Alyssa McMurtry

MADRID

Thousands took to the streets of the northern Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday, calling for amnesty and the release of hundreds of ETA prisoners who remain behind bars.

Spanish media reported that tens of thousands showed up for the protest, which was called for by a group of around 2,000 former and current ETA prisoners. Senior figures linked to the Basque terrorist group ETA were in attendance, including Arnaldo Otegi, a left-wing Basque politician who recently completed a six-year prison sentence for trying to revive an outlawed separatist party.

“We need to release the prisoners and bring back refugees. Until this happens, any reconciliation is going to be difficult because not everyone is going to be home,” Antton López Ruiz, a former ETA militant who spent 26 years in prison for his role in the deaths of 13 people, told press during the march.

Activists called for amnesty for the 386 ETA prisoners who are still behind bars throughout France and Spain. They also called for prisoners who are outside Basque country to be brought home and for the end of the application of laws which send ETA prisoners outside Basque country.

The ETA is a terrorist group that has been fighting for an independent Basque region out of territory in northern Spain and southern France. Since 1968, the group has been held responsible for the deaths of 829 people, injuring thousands more and kidnapping dozens.

In 2011, ETA announced a “definitive cessation to its armed activity.” Although the separatist group has not formally disbanded or laid down its arms, its last fatal terrorist attack was in 2009.