{"id":126503,"date":"2026-05-25T11:10:05","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T06:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=126503"},"modified":"2026-05-25T11:10:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T06:10:06","slug":"outrage-in-spain-after-police-beat-gaza-flotilla-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/","title":{"rendered":"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MADRID(National Times)- Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police\u2019s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When a relative of one of the six returning activists tried to approach them at Bilbao airport on Saturday, a police officer forcefully prevented him from doing so, leading to scuffles between both sides, images from state broadcaster&nbsp;<em>TVE<\/em>&nbsp;showed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Images showed police striking people with batons and pinning others to the ground while being jeered by onlookers. Before this, activists appeared to have blocked the exit for other passengers and police tried to move them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four people were arrested for serious disobedience, resisting arrest and assaulting law enforcement officers, the Basque regional police force, the Ertzaintza, said in a statement on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two of those arrested were activists who had just arrived from Turkiye,&nbsp;<em>TVE<\/em>&nbsp;reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The police force also launched an investigation into the incident. \u201cFollowing what happened at the airport, the Ertzaintza internal affairs division has launched an investigation to determine whether the officers\u2019 conduct complied with procedures,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Sunday\u2019s march, pro-Palestinian demonstrators carried banners criticising the Basque police force and accusing the local government of being complicit with Zionism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The activists were released from Israeli custody after being&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1996359\">detained<\/a>&nbsp;on a flotilla trying to bring aid to Gaza. Organisers said on Friday that the activists were subjected to abuse while in Israeli detention, with several hospitalised with injuries and at least 15 reporting sexual assaults, including rape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group included 44 Spanish nationals, according to Spain\u2019s foreign ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around 20 other activists from the flotilla landed at Barcelona airport on Saturday, where they were welcomed by supporters, including Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spain was among a series of Western governments on Thursday which expressed their anger after Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir posted a video of himself mocking the activists as they were pinned to the ground in a prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories, has called for those responsible for events at Bilbao airport to be held responsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Amnesty International has also demanded a thorough investigation and condemned the \u201cexcessive use of force\u201d by Basque police officers at the airport and called for \u201ceffective accountability\u201d over the incident,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe images published show no legitimate cause for the use of force,\u201d it added in a statement. \u201cIt is very serious that batons were repeatedly used against people who had already been knocked down and were on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Israeli Embassy in Spain has demanded an \u201cexplanation\u201d from the Spanish government over the events at Bilbao airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Activists return to Ireland, UK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, British and Irish activists who were part of a Gaza-bound flotilla returned to London and Dublin on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among the Irish activists who arrived at Dublin Airport via Turkiye was Margaret Connolly, sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She recounted being held with the other detained activists in \u201ccontainers\u201d, where she said several people risked hypothermia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Several supporters sporting keffiyeh scarves and Palestinian flags turned out to welcome the Irish activists, who described being \u201cabused\u201d and \u201ctortured\u201d in detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were split in groups and the next couple of days were some of the most horrific times I\u2019ve ever experienced,\u201d said activist Tom Deasy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Seven UK-based activists also landed at London\u2019s Stansted Airport on Saturday, many still wearing Israeli prison tracksuits. They said that Israeli forces had shot rubber bullets at them when intercepting the convoy of vessels earlier this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere was a woman in my prison cell who had a big hole in her leg as a result of one of those shootings,\u201d said Hannah Schafer, a 62-year-old from Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MADRID(National Times)- Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police\u2019s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel. When a relative of one of the six returning activists tried to approach them at Bilbao airport [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"MADRID(National Times)- Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police\u2019s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel. When a relative of one of the six returning activists tried to approach them at Bilbao airport [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T06:10:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-25T06:10:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-24.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"670\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"370\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"humza Jahangir\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/\",\"name\":\"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists - Nation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-24.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-25T06:10:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-25T06:10:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-24.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Untitled-design-17-24.png\",\"width\":670,\"height\":370},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/\",\"name\":\"Nation\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/27efa35fa76e99f3ad7e7397d7332c16\",\"name\":\"humza Jahangir\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/43feedd99bd6a90080d1621b7e6604364acb673ee979d3ffe5075557c14c68b9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"humza Jahangir\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/author\/humza\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists - Nation","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126503\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Outrage in Spain after police beat Gaza flotilla activists - Nation","og_description":"MADRID(National Times)- Around two thousand protesters took to the streets of the Spanish city of Bilbao on Sunday to condemn the Basque police\u2019s treatment of activists from a Gaza aid flotilla on their return from detention in Israel. 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