The Basque Government's Security Counselor, Bingen Zupiria, has appeared before the Basque Parliament to provide explanations regarding the controversial actions of the Ertzaintza last Saturday at Loiu airport. Zupiria asserted that the trigger for the police intervention was "provocations and aggressions against officers" by an "activist" identified in the exposed videos as José Javier Oses, a former ETA member.
Despite justifying the response, the counselor has lamented the events on several occasions. Zupiria began his statement in English with "nunca debió suceder" (it should never have happened) and admitted that his Department "should have been able to manage" the situation differently. The police charge resulted in four arrests, who have since been released with charges, seven injured Ertzaintza officers on sick leave, and four injured civilians, two of whom were among those arrested.
Zupiria chronologically recounted the events, explaining that the gathering of about 40 people had not been communicated, although minimum conditions had been agreed upon with the Ertzaintza commander, which, according to him, were not met. The origin of the chaos, he pointed out, was the "aggression suffered by his colleague" when one of the activists pushed the person in charge of the operation. "From that moment on, incidents broke out," he stated, leading officers to "use force and the police baton" to clear the space. The Ertzaintza acted on a matter of public order, not international politics.
In his appearance, the counselor revealed that two of the individuals involved in the altercations, whom he described as "the most active," are former ETA members. He detailed that one of them, José Javier Oses, who was one of the four arrested, was sentenced in France to eight years in prison. Regarding the other, he indicated that he served a twelve-year prison sentence for his terrorist activity. Zupiria insisted that the Ertzaintza "did not hit anyone in Loiu for their ideology or activism".
The counselor shifted his discourse to focus on the Ertzaintza, contrasting it with his initial assessment on Saturday. He revealed that he has reported to the Prosecutor's Office the dissemination of messages on social media identifying the officer in charge of the police operation. These messages accuse him of being "a violent individual with and without uniform" and reveal his place of residence. In response, Zupiria warned that they will not tolerate the "digital and physical hunt" of officers and personally assumed responsibility for any outcomes from internal investigations.
The opposition groups who had requested the appearance were not convinced by the explanations. Gorka Ortiz de Ginea of EH Bildu described the action as "violent and shameful" and called for the dismissal of the operation's head, as well as "another police model." Meanwhile, Jon Hernández of Sumar labeled it "brutal and disproportionate," lamenting the use of ETA to "justify" something that "has no place in democracy."
The PP parliamentarian, Ainhoa Domaica, considered that there was an "obvious interest" in provoking the Ertzaintza, although she supported the internal investigation that has been opened. The appearance took place on a day that dawned with graffiti containing insults and "messages of hate" against the Ertzaintza and the PNV, which appeared at the batzoki in the Cruces neighborhood of Barakaldo. Before Zupiria's intervention before the Basque Chamber, about fifty people gathered to denounce what they considered the complicity of the Ertzaintza and the PNV with Zionism.
