Campus in Vitoria Closed Ahead of Controversial Vox Party Meeting

The administration of the University of the Basque Country (EHU) has made an unprecedented decision to completely close the campus in Vitoria on Monday, February 23, 2026. The reason is a political meeting planned for that day by the right-wing, populist Vox party. The university is suspending all in-person classes and closing entrances and parking lots, arguing the necessity of guaranteeing the safety of students, staff, and property. In an official statement, the university authorities also speak of creating a "cordon sanitaire" against "totalitarian messages" which, in their view, threaten the academic community. The decision by the rector, José Ramón Bengoetxea, has sparked a storm of political reactions. The Vox party, whose sole representative in the Basque Parliament is Amaia Martínez Grisaleña, responded with an aggressive statement. „"Que se tome la medicina y limpie la basura proetarra que tiene en su campus."” (Let him take the medicine and clean up the pro-ETA trash he has on his campus.) — Amaia Martínez Grisaleña The UGT trade union, in a sharp statement, compared the rector to Antonio Tejero, the leader of the failed 1981 coup attempt, writing: „"Como siga con esta gestión desastrosa nos va a hundir. El Gobierno vasco no nos va a financiar, va a convertir usted el campus en un campo de batalla y Tejero a su lado nos va a parecer una hermanita de la caridad."” (If you continue with this disastrous management, you will sink us. The Basque government will not finance us, you will turn the campus into a battlefield, and Tejero next to you will seem like a sister of mercy.) — Komunikat UGT On the other hand, the Basque security councillor, Bingen Zupiria, publicly appealed for "common sense" from all sides. Political and national tensions have been a constant feature of public life in the Basque Country for decades. This region, with broad autonomy, was for years the arena of conflict with the separatist organization ETA, which ended its armed activity in 2011. Currently, disputes mainly revolve around symbolic, institutional, and historical memory issues. Simultaneously with institutional decisions, the Basque trade unions LAB, ELA, and Steilas, which are dominant at the university, have called for mobilization and protests against the Vox event. Radical nationalist groups are also joining the protests. This convergence of schedules—a legal political meeting and announced mass protests—creates a real risk of clashes on university grounds. The police, according to reports, are preparing for actions aimed at reducing tension and ensuring public order. The entire situation has placed Rector Bengoetxea at the center of a political storm, forced to balance between guaranteeing freedom of assembly and the duty to protect the safety of the community he manages. The decision to close the campus is an expression of choosing the latter priority, but at the cost of sharp criticism and accusations of restricting freedoms.