Fascist Rally Could Be Spain's Last
MADRID, Spain — About 1,500 aging supporters and younger neofascists held what might be the last homage in Spain to a former dictator, Francisco Franco.
Rallies in Spain to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of his death — with displays of emblems, insignia, uniforms, and flags — will be banned by the end of the year under the new Law of Historical Memory.
On Saturday, the annual mass to honor Franco at the Valley of the Fallen in the Guadarrama Mountains, near Madrid, was a nostalgic affair.
Franco, who died in 1975, is buried by the altar in the gigantic basilica, hewn out of the rock by his prisoners after he emerged victorious from the 1936–39 civil war. Many of those attending with Carmen Franco Polo, 81, Franco's only child, flaunted regalia associated with her father's regime. They also sang "Cara al Sol [Face to the Sun]," the rousing fascist anthem. "From next year, they can hold their Mass as usual," a government spokeswoman said, "but they will not be able to wear symbols referring to Franco's regime, make speeches, or sing 'Cara al Sol.' No religious service can be used for political purposes."
Braced for a weekend of violence involving Francoist rallies on the 32nd anniversary of the Spanish dictator's death, riot police instead had to contend with rioting young leftists, especially in Barcelona.
In the Catalan capital 20 police and 10 demonstrators were taken to hospital and seven youths detained.
A thousand members of urban tribes, from punks to anarchists, had united to protest against the murder last week in Madrid of one their anti-fascist members, a 16-year-old youth. He was killed in the Madrid metro by a neo-Nazi.
