Thousands marched on Friday demanding ETA end its campaign

A post office in the town of Durango was set on fire on Saturday and a petrol bomb was thrown at a police officer's home.

Earlier, police arrested five youths on suspicion of involvement in a bomb attack on a bank.

Tributes

The families and friends of the ETA members who died last Monday when explosives they were carrying in their car blew-up attended the rally in Bilbao on Saturday.

It began with huge photographs of the dead men being placed on the stage at the front.

Floral tributes were laid down as the crowd broke into spontaneous applause.

Despite the violence ETA supporters remain defiant

The spokesman for ETA's political wing repeated his earlier description of the dead as "patriots who were fighting for their country."

On Friday the organisation claimed responsibility for 12 attacks between May and July, including assassinations of two politicians.

The demonstration comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region.

Over the past few days, assailants have thrown Molotov cocktails at bank offices ,and burnt some 13 buses and dozens of cars in different Basque cities.

Crisis meeting

Police suspect ETA supporters carried out the attacks.

On Friday, more than 30,000 people marched through the city of Pamplona in northern Spain to protest at the killing of an army officer, an act for which the group has also been blamed.

Braving pouring rain, the protesters were led by the widow of the murdered officer and his father, as well as representatives of Spain's main political parties.

ETA, which ended a 14-month ceasefire in December, has been blamed for more than 800 deaths since its violent campaign for an independent Basque homeland began in 1968.

Recent attacks include the murders of Jose Maria Martin Carpena, a councillor from the governing Popular Party, and a former Basque provincial governor Juan Maria Jauregui.

On Friday, the government held a crisis meeting with opposition leaders in Madrid in an attempt to end the violence.