Saturday, March 13, 2004
11th March Madrid terrorist attack: Funerals of the victims
This is the third day of official mourning, and the first funerals for the vicitims of Thurdays bombing in Madrid are being held today. I think it is time to withdraw a bit from all the suffering of the families, and to let them express their grief and anger in private with eachother. The camaras have covered every single detail of the past 50 hours in minute detail, and all of us in Spain have become a bit addicted to the television and radio reports. I suggest that after the massive protest marches held yesterday all over Spain (where we were all given the chance to publically express our outrage at the terrorist attacks and to show how our sympathy and solidarity lay with the direct victims), it is now time to look ahead rather than behind us, to insist that the authorities start to inform the population about the investigations being undertaken to discover who actually planted the bombs, and to allow the families of the victims to mourn in peace and privacy. I'm not going to include any more items about the aftermath of March 11th attacks, unless new information is discovered and offered, about who is behind them.
This is the third day of official mourning, and the first funerals for the vicitims of Thurdays bombing in Madrid are being held today. I think it is time to withdraw a bit from all the suffering of the families, and to let them express their grief and anger in private with eachother. The camaras have covered every single detail of the past 50 hours in minute detail, and all of us in Spain have become a bit addicted to the television and radio reports. I suggest that after the massive protest marches held yesterday all over Spain (where we were all given the chance to publically express our outrage at the terrorist attacks and to show how our sympathy and solidarity lay with the direct victims), it is now time to look ahead rather than behind us, to insist that the authorities start to inform the population about the investigations being undertaken to discover who actually planted the bombs, and to allow the families of the victims to mourn in peace and privacy. I'm not going to include any more items about the aftermath of March 11th attacks, unless new information is discovered and offered, about who is behind them.
Anti-terrorism marches in Madrid - news the day after.
In the end over 11 million people in Spain protested on the streets yesterday against terrorism - not 8 million as I wrote last night while the protests were still happening. One of the chants most heard throughout the evening in all the demostrations was "Quien ha sido, quien ha sido?" (Who did it? Who did it?). This is the question which should have been answered already, but with elections looming tomorrow, it seems increasingly unlikely that the government is willing or able to offer a credible explanation. Government sources continue to point at ETA as the prime suspects.
In the end over 11 million people in Spain protested on the streets yesterday against terrorism - not 8 million as I wrote last night while the protests were still happening. One of the chants most heard throughout the evening in all the demostrations was "Quien ha sido, quien ha sido?" (Who did it? Who did it?). This is the question which should have been answered already, but with elections looming tomorrow, it seems increasingly unlikely that the government is willing or able to offer a credible explanation. Government sources continue to point at ETA as the prime suspects.
