The 41st anniversary of the death of General Francisco Franco on Sunday motivated some 200 people to offer the fascist salute when they gathered in Madrid’s Plaza Oriente.
Under the flag which represented the country under the dictatorship, those assembled sang the anthem song of the Falange party, the only legal party at the time, and held up posters with slogans such as “Make Spain Great Again”.
An alternative sign, “Franco asesino” (Franco assassin), was held up by man who described himself as gay, homeless and Romanian. A group of men beat Lagarder Danciu to the ground, punching and kicking him repeatedly until police intervened. The incident was caught on camera.
In various parts of Spain, at least a dozen church services organised by the Francisco Franco Foundation honoured the dead dictator.
When the fighting ceased after three years, Franco assumed power in 1939 and kept tight hold on it until his death in 1975. The nation has struggled ever since to come to terms with the war and Franco’s vengeance after it.
On Saturday, a number of people gathered 50 kms outside Madrid at the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos) where a basilica has been carved out of rock and a memorial marks the tombs of Franco as well as the remains of thousands of fighters on both sides of the brutal civil war.
The demonstrators there were demanding that the monument to converted into a memorial to the struggle against fascism that was a key part of the civil war.
Relatives of those who were killed or disappeared during and after the conflict have long been asking the government to start exhuming and recovering victims' remains, a task which is currently undertaken by volunteer groups.
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