The Security Counselor of Euskadi, Bingen Zupiria, indicated this Sunday that he “regrets” the incidents that occurred this Saturday at Bilbao airport between the Ertzaintza and the members of the Basque delegation of the Flotilla, who landed in Loiu around 14:00. Zupiria spoke of “provocations” and “shoves” when the six members of the Flotilla were posing for the media. This caused a moment of great tension in the terminal that ended with charges against the activists and those waiting for them. There were four arrests for disobedience. Zupiria said this Sunday that he assumes “personally” the responsibility for what happened in Loiu, as well as “the responsibility to investigate whether the actions of the Ertzaintza agents who intervened complied with the directives in force.”
“It was about the people arriving being able to receive the greeting of those waiting and it was also about the people leaving [the airport] being able to do so normally. Seeing the images, it is clear that we achieved neither one nor the other,” Zupiria expressed in a statement to the media in Durango. “I regret what happened yesterday and I regret it doubly. I regret the events and the charges and the situations that occurred and I especially regret it because it was agreed how it should have been carried out,” the counselor pointed out before concluding that “what happened should not have happened.”
The head of the Security department of Euskadi pointed out that inside the terminal of Bilbao airport there were “provocations” and “shoves” that caused “that situation that benefits neither the country nor the Ertzaintza nor society in general. I believe that this is not the way to resolve conflicts, but I think that, once again, it shows that some situations we do not all know how to manage normally.”
The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla expressed this Saturday their “deep indignation” and “condemnation” after the Ertzaintza’s action against their members, which they described as an example of “police brutality.” Amnesty International regretted the “excessive use” of force employed by the agents. “The published images show no legitimate cause for the use of force. It is very serious that people who had already been knocked down and were on the ground were repeatedly hit with batons,” they indicated in a statement published on the social network X. “We demand a thorough investigation and effective accountability. Police protocols must prohibit the use of batons against immobilized people who do not pose any risk,” the note concludes.
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Amnesty International regrets the excessive use of force employed today by Ertzaintza agents against members of the Flotilla at Loiu airport, in Bilbao.
— Amnesty International Spain (@amnistiaespana) May 23, 2026
The published images show no legitimate cause for the use of force. It is very serious that people who had already been knocked down and were on the ground were repeatedly hit with batons…
In an interview on RTVE’s Canal 24 horas, Javier Aparicio, Spanish member of the Flotilla, indicated that “there was no worse way to get home,” referring to the incidents recorded at Bilbao airport. “It was a cold shower to encounter such gratuitous and also shocking violence for all of us who saw it, the image of the police officer’s knee on the neck of our companion, in the same way that the Israeli occupation forces had detained and mobilized us for days,” he pointed out.
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