Overview
- The clash at Loiu/Bilbao airport on 23 May saw Ertzaintza officers charge into arriving Global Sumud activists using batons, an action activists say caused more than a dozen injuries.
- Global Sumud’s Basque delegation lodged a criminal querella on 2 June naming Security Minister Bingen Zupiria, the officers who acted and commanding officers for detención ilegal, lesiones and delito de odio.
- Flotilla lawyers described the police response as totally unnecessary and disproportionate and said officers violently threw members to the ground and continued to strike them after they fell.
- Police detained several people at the scene and four were arrested on charges of serious disobedience, resistance and assault on an authority, according to reports.
- Supporters gathered at the Bilbao courts with Palestinian flags and images of injuries, and the case now moves to the judiciary where formal investigations and possible prosecutions will determine accountability and could heighten political tensions in the Basque Country.