Last statue of dictator Franco removed from mainland Spain
A crane hoisted the bronze statue, depicting the military ruler astride a horse and waving a baton in his right hand, from its concrete base thereby eliminating a public symbol of decades of right wing dictatorship.
The statue, which stands at over 20 feet tall, will be stored in a warehouse until it can be displayed in a museum on the history of Spain that is planned for the coastal city.
During his 36 year dictatorship many such statues were erected in town squares across Spain but they have gradually been taken down over the years following his death in 1975.
A similar statue was removed from a square in the Spanish capital in 2005. It had served as a rallying point for pro-Franco supporters in Madrid and was dismantled in the middle of the night to avoid protests.
Last year the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero approved a law that forces the removal of all public symbols of the Franco era, such as statues and plaques, and to rename streets associated with Franco and the generals who fought alongside him in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The statue, which stands at over 20 feet tall, will be stored in a warehouse until it can be displayed in a museum on the history of Spain that is planned for the coastal city.
During his 36 year dictatorship many such statues were erected in town squares across Spain but they have gradually been taken down over the years following his death in 1975.
A similar statue was removed from a square in the Spanish capital in 2005. It had served as a rallying point for pro-Franco supporters in Madrid and was dismantled in the middle of the night to avoid protests.
Last year the socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero approved a law that forces the removal of all public symbols of the Franco era, such as statues and plaques, and to rename streets associated with Franco and the generals who fought alongside him in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39.