On June 18 the European Union (EU) Parliament passed guidelines that would allow member countries to hold immigrants in special detention centers for up to 18 months before being deported. The guidelines are meant to standardize the way EU members treat undocumented immigrants; currently France limits detention to 32 days, while seven countries, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, allow indefinite detention.

Spanish police and Civil Guards cracked down on striking truckers June 11, with 25,000 deployed to clear blocked highways, arresting dozens. Catalan provincial police joined with French law enforcement to clear an eight-kilometer line of trucks that had closed a border post at Biriatou. Tens of thousands of truck drivers launched strikes in Spain and Portugal June 9, demanding government help to cope with the rising price of fuel. The protests paralyzed roads, closed auto plants, left supermarkets bare, and petrol stations without gasoline. On June 10, two strikers were run over and killed at picket lines in Spain and in Portugal. (AFP, La Voz Digital, Spain, June 12)

Ignoring a "don't panic" plea from Downing Street, motorists across England and Wales lined up at gas stations to top off their tanks in preparation for a long weekend of industrial action. Tanker drivers supplying 10% of the UK's petrol stations are to halt deliveries June 13 as talks between the Unite union and haulers servicing more than 900 Shell stations broke down. (The Guardian, June 13)

From banned Basque political party Batasuna, received via e-mail, June 3:

Faced with the events which occurred in Tibet, Batasuna firstly wants to express its solidarity with the Tibetan people and begs to stop the repression against the protests made by the men and women of Tibet.

A masked group of some 20 men armed with sticks went on the rampage in Rome's multi-ethnic Pigneto district May 24, smashing the windows of shops owned by Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants while hurling verbal abuse. The mob disappeared before police arrived. The assault comes days after a mob firebombed Gypsy (Roma) camps in Naples.

A Czech activist, Jan Bednar, has been on hunger strike for two weeks to protest the "military occupation of the Czech Republic by the United States"—by which he means the plans to build a radar base for the new "missile shield" on Czech territory. From the Nonviolence.cz website, May 25:

ETA commander Francisco Javier López Peña AKA "Thierry"—on the run since 1983 and held responsible for ending the last ceasefire—was arrested late May 20 in Bordeaux in a joint operation involving the French Gendarmerie and Spanish Guardia Civil. Arrested with Thierry at a downtown apartment were Ainhoa Ozaeta Mendiondo, Igor Suberbiola and Jon Salaberría, a former member of the Basque parliament and Batasuna leader. All four were armed, but did not resist. Ozaeta Mendiondo is the voice who reads ETA's communiqués in media releases, and said to be the lover of the son of veteran militant Josu Ternera. (ThinkSpain, May 21)

Spanish ministers and royalty attended the funeral of a Civil Guard killed in a May 14 car bombing blamed on ETA at a barracks in Legutiano, near the Basque city of Vitoria. Four officers were hurt. (BBC, May 15) Meanwhile, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Martin Scheinin, concluded an eight-day mission to Spain to review that country's practices in combating terrorism. While the report issued at the end of the trip praised certain "best practices" in safeguarding the rights of suspects, it also raised concerns about abuses. (UN News Centre, May 14) An excerpt: