The Ertzaintza recorded five hate incidents in Aiaraldea in 2025, two more than the previous year. In 2024, two cases were registered in Laudio and one in Amurrio. According to the new report, the number of reported incidents has increased in the region, despite a general downward trend in the Basque Autonomous Community (BAC).
The Minister of Security for the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria, presented the document to the Commission of Institutions, Public Governance, and Security. The research was supported by the Chair of Human Rights and Public Powers at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). The report compiles 193 cases across the BAC, but warns that the data should be interpreted "with caution" as it only reflects incidents that reach the Ertzaintza.
Despite the notable increase in the region, the BAC figures show a downward trend maintained for three consecutive years, following a peak of 435 incidents in 2022. The researchers suggest that "changes in reporting (underreporting) and registration" may be behind this decrease, along with factors such as "the irregular administrative status of many victims, lack of financial resources or knowledge of the procedure, normalization of violence culture, low trust in the judicial and police system, and fear of retaliation from aggressors or authorities".
Racism and xenophobia were the predominant motives in 56% of the incidents in the BAC (108 cases). Those related to sexual orientation numbered 40, and those linked to ideology, 18. Injuries and threats were the most common criminal typologies, with 63 and 40 cases respectively. In total, 284 individuals were investigated and 9 were arrested.
The report does not specify the nature of the incidents recorded in Aiaraldea. However, an incident in Artziniega was publicly reported: last July, a Maghrebi family received racist and xenophobic insults in the Plaza del Frontón, and a complaint was also filed for "degrading treatment".
In Aiaraldea, the highest number of incidents was recorded in 2020, with seven cases. Other notable incidents in previous years include: in 2019, two lesbophobic attacks were reported during the Artziniega festivals; and in 2018, players from CD Orduña and Indartsu Kluba reported suffering homophobic, racist, and xenophobic insults. In 2019, a former National Police officer was arrested in Lezama, accused of shooting at the home of a left-wing nationalist family; in 2024, the defendant accepted a prison sentence of three years and nine months.
