Millions of Spaniards united in grief and anger Friday night during solemn vigils and marches to denounce the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 200 people in the capital a day earlier. Nearly 2 million people marched in rain-drenched Madrid, according to police estimates, some chanting "Assassins!" and carrying placards and banners calling for peace and an end to terrorism. One of the banners read: "It’s Not Raining — It’s Crying." Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar led a column of the demonstrators, who marched from one of the main plazas in Madrid to the central Atocha train station. The bustling station was the site of the first series of explosions Thursday morning that also injured 1,500 people.
ETA spokesmen, in separate statements to the Basque-language newspaper Gara and to a regional Basque television station, denied any involvement in the bombings, marking the first time in its more than 30-year history that the group is believed to have openly disavowed an attack. But Spain’s interior minister, Angel Acebes, said the police reported that a sports bag salvaged from one of the demolished trains contained a timer-style detonator, a mobile telephone and explosives that he said were a Spanish-made type ETA had used in past attacks. "How is it that after 30 years of attacks, they are not going to be the prime suspects?" Acebes said.
Still, he acknowledged that other leads pointed to Islamic terrorists, including a van discovered late Thursday that contained seven detonator caps and a cassette with verses of the Koran in Arabic. "We haven’t closed off any line of investigation," Acebes said. Acebes said Spanish authorities had been in contact with security agencies around the world. "None of them has warned us that they have information that would point to a different line than ETA," he said. "None of them has given us any information that it could be an Islamic terrorist group." In a news conference just before noon Friday, Aznar angrily dismissed suggestions -- first voiced by a senior opposition Socialist Party politician in a radio interview -- that the government initially withheld evidence indicating that an Islamic terrorist group may have been responsible for the attacks. "Never was there any information relating to the investigation that was not given to the public," Aznar said. Aznar also defended Acebes, the interior minister, for saying early Thursday that ETA was behind the attacks "without doubt." Aznar related a list of recently foiled ETA attempts to stage a major strike in the capital, including a plot to bomb trains on Christmas Eve and the capture of an explosives-laden van two weeks ago. "Isn’t it reasonable to think that group would be the culprits?" the prime minister asked.
With national elections scheduled for Sunday -- Aznar confirmed Friday that the voting would go ahead -- some political analysts and other Spaniards said the prime minister’s ruling Popular Party (PP) could benefit from a wave of increased support if people deem ETA responsible for the carnage. But Aznar has aligned Spain closely with the United States, backing the Bush administration’s war in Iraq -- Spain has 1,300 troops there -- despite widespread antiwar sentiment. If al Qaeda is determined to have been responsible for the attacks, Aznar could take the blame for exposing Spain to retaliation, the analysts said.
| That assumes that the Spanish people will knuckle under to terror. Ain't likely, is it? |
On the streets of Madrid, residents placed flowers, candles and written slogans of support for the victims at makeshift shrines set up at the blast sites. Several people said they were worried about how the government would handle information about the investigation into the attacks. "The election will be decided by whoever was the author of this attack," said Maximo Aquilue, an engineer from Aragon who was at the Atocha station in hopes of finding an outbound train. "If it’s ETA, the election will go to the PP. If it’s al Qaeda, it will go to the Socialists."
| If it's al-Q people are going to be mad as hell and vote for the government that will take al-Q on. Don't think the Sapnish Socialists have a glowing record in that regard. |
"If it’s al Qaeda, the government will wait until after the elections to say it, because it will put their votes at risk," said Elena, a 22-year-old psychology student, looking at the mangled wreckage of the train at Atocha station, which is near her home. "I know people who say they’ll change their vote if it’s al Qaeda, because the government didn’t pay attention to their clamor not to go to war."
The death of a Polish infant Friday raised the death toll from the attacks to 199. Government officials said the victims included at least 15 people from 10 other countries. The government announced Friday night that a special fund of 140 million euros -- $171 million -- had been set up to assist the victims and their families. The cabinet also announced emergency measures to grant immediate citizenship to any illegal immigrants who were among the victims, as a move to help officials identify victims. The outpouring on the streets was considered unprecedented, surpassing a similar peace march that took place in 1997, after the ETA assassinated a popular Basque politician, town councilman Miguel Angel Blanco, 29. In addition to the 2 million demonstrators in Madrid, 1.2 million people took to the streets of Barcelona. Millions more turned out in Seville, Valencia and the Basque city of Bilbao. Police and news media estimated that 8 million people turned out nationwide.
| How's that compare to the anti-war demonstrations last year? |
Three members of the royal family -- Prince Felipe and his sisters, Princesses Elena and Cristina -- joined the demonstration in Madrid, as did the prime ministers of France and Italy, as well as the president of the European Commission. The march followed a midday vigil in which a few minutes of silence were observed in the capital in honor of the victims. Workers descended from office buildings, cars stopped, stock market trading was suspended and the entire city seemed to fall silent. The stillness was followed by rounds of applause, a traditional show of respect for the dead. |