Spaniards held silent protests today for the fourth time in a month after the latest killing blamed on the Basque separatist group ETA, which has cast a shadow over upcoming elections.
In the Basque town of Lasarte in northern Spain, mourners filed past the coffin of Socialist deputy mayor Mr Froilan Elexpe (54) who was gunned down in a bar yesterday afternoon.
At midday, hundreds of protestors gathered outside the town hall for a 15-minute silent vigil before breaking into a chant of Freedom! Freedom! and applauding Mr Elexpe's family members.
Since February 22, five people have been killed in four attacks linked to ETA and police fear an escalation of bloodshed ahead of the Basque region's parliamentary elections on May 13.
ETA has been blamed for about 800 deaths in its 33-year campaign of violence for an independent state in the Basque-speaking areas of northern Spain and southwestern France.
The election in May represents the biggest chance for Spanish parties opposed to independence to oust the Basque Country's nationalists since Spain created its autonomous regions in 1979.
Today's newspapers noted 34 per cent of people taking part in an opinion poll declined to say how they intended to vote, a possible sign that voters felt intimidated.
The poll showed the ruling Basque Nationalist Party would win most seats in the regional parliament but possibly having to seek support again from pro-independence party Euskal Herritarrok (EH) which is close to ETA and claims about 15 percent of the Basque vote.
The Basque government was forced to call the regional election a year early after EH withdrew its support last year.