However, the group instead delivered coordinates to the eight weapons caches to the Italian Archbishop of Bologna and Irish Priest Harold Good, who then passed the information on to French authorities in the early hours of Saturday morning. A few days ago, ETA gave a press release announcing the it will disband today and called for a demostration to support the peace process in Bayonne.
The Basque parliamentary spokesman for Spain's ruling People's Party, which has refused to negotiate with ETA and called for its full dissolution, said the handover was a final surrender after six years of broken promises.
"This stage of neutralizing an arsenal of arms and explosives is a major step", French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said.
"The ETA we've known up to now has gone forever", Semper said. "This must never happen again in our country", he said, standing by the sea in the Basque resort of San Sebastian.
Founded in 1959, ETA has fought a long and often-bloody drive for independence and has been blamed for the deaths of 829 people in a string of bombings and shootings dating back to 1968. Thousands more were injured.
The weapons caches could include about 130 handguns and two tonnes of explosives, according to French anti-terrorism experts.
Weakened by a series of high-profile arrests and increasingly isolated even in separatist Basque circles, the group declared a unilateral and unconditional ceasefire in 2011.
Ram Manikkalingam, third right, president of the Verification Commission for disarmament of ETA, the Basque separatist group, poses for the media with French Mayor of Bayonne Jean-Rene Etchegaray, right, and other members.
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"We hope that, with this, the movement can move forward to a long-lasting peace in the Basque country", activist Mixel Berhokoirigoin said.
The stockpiles are located in southern France, in a region which was frequently used as a base for Eta activities in Spain.
"The government will not alter its position: terrorists can not hope to receive any special treatment from the government nor immunity for their crimes" said Zoido, continuing that Eta must "announce its definitive dissolution, ask forgiveness from its victims, and disappear".
It is not yet clear if the disarmament process will receive the backing of the Spanish and French governments - both of which have taken a firm line up to now.
A counter-event was held yesterday in the Basque city of Vitoria which included a ceremony for "the protagonists of ETA's defeat".
Despite the disarmament, ETA's actions have left a bitter rift across Spain, in part due to its bomb attacks which left hundreds of civilians dead.
The disarming of ETA is "a historical event", said Arnaldo Otegi a former leader of ETA's political wing Batasuna, stopping short of saying whether he thought the ETA would disband.
"I believe that ETA must start a debate between militants about its future", added the 58-year-old, who had been imprisoned for a kidnapping.
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