Basque mayor backs down on bodyguards
Deal struck to allow security personnel of ETA-threatened councilors inside town hall
The Basque Socialist Party (PSE) spokesman and former mayor of Andoain (Guipúzcoa), Estanis Amuchastegui, is expected to return to the town hall today for the first time in two weeks after new mayor Ana Carrere, of the radical abertzale Bildu coalition, decided to reverse her decision to ban bodyguards from entering municipal buildings.
According to reports from the PSE and Popular Party, Carrere has agreed to the proposal put forward by the seven local councilors who live under protection due to ETA threats against them, and will allow a bodyguard to check the security of municipal premises and afterwards remain outside.
The new mayor banned the entry of bodyguards after arguing that following ETA's indefinite truce, "political normality" had returned.
