Arnaldo Otegi, detained in Donostia-San Sebastián

Spanish police on Tuesday afternoon have arrested at least six people including the leader of the outlawed Batasuna party Arnaldo Otegi.

It was an operation to prevent the rebuilding of the nationalist organisation, which was declared illegal in 2003 for its ties with the Basque armed group ETA, as several agencies reported quoting legal sources.

Those other arrested during the police process --which was carried out by judge Baltasar Garzón and remains open-- are Rufino Etxeberria, Sonia Jacinto, Miren Zabaleta, José Manuel Serra, and Rafael Díez Usabiaga, who is the former leader of the LAB union.

The arrests took place following an encounter which took place at the LAB's union headquarters in Donostia-San Sebastián, where the arrested had been meeting recently.