Clashes at Basque protest

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Riot police have clashed with crowds of Basque youths in a pro-independence protest which defied a government ban.

Police fired rubber bullets at demonstrators who threw rocks and firebombs during the clashes in San Sebastian.

The Associated Press said some protesters were injured and that authorities reported one arrest.

The demonstration in the city, which is 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the French border, had been prohibited earlier in the week by Basque Interior Minister Javier Balza.

Some in the Basque country of northern Spain want to move towards independence, though the bombings of the separatist group ETA are widely condemned.

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ETA, whose initials stand for Basque Homeland and Freedom, has admitted to the killings of 800 people since 1968 in its armed campaign for independence of Basque regions in Spain and across the border in France.

The regional high court had earlier upheld Balza's prohibition of the protest.