In the Basque region the president of the Government Ibarretxe is to explain today how he proposes to continue to govern, now that the Basque Nationalist Party has been left in a minority situation with the departure from parliament of the political wing of ETA, Euskal Heritarok. They want to try to avoid a bringing forward of the Basque elections. Meanwhile the youngster who lost a finger when a Molotov cocktail exploded in his hand during street incidents in Vitoria last week has been released by the judge. He therefore granted a provisional release to the youth who had no previous record. The socialists are looking for support from the regional party that would bring them a governing stability in the Sevilla parliament.
Reports are that the talks are going well, but agreement is still to be reached.
The current president handed in his resignation yesterday after what he described as internal and external pressures. It appears that there is video evidence of the policeman abusing the youngsters. The investigations started after parents noted that their children's movements were unaccounted for for several hours and for no apparent reason. International observers think that the general election has been far from just. The Basque judge who fails to see cause for social alarm in street violence and who has therefore released a youth caught throwing Molotov cocktails is well reported by the papers this morning.