Calls for reference to Franco to be removed

Monday's 25th anniversary of the death of General Franco also sparked a number of protests by anti-fascist groups in Palma, riot police were out on Monday night to control a 1000-strong protest through the capital and on Tuesday night a monument in Sa Faxina in Palma to those who died on board the warship Baleares which was christened by Franco and sunk by the republicans during the Civil War, was fire-bombed, just 24 hours after an activist threw a molotov cocktail at one of the main entrances to city hall in Plaza Cort. Caudillo means military strongman in Spanish and used during the 19th century to describe a military leader who used his power over the army to take power, General Franco was also known as El Caudillo and the United Left want the name removed. Furthermore the United Left said yesterday as there is not actually a square at the location, there is no need for a new name. A number of United Left party members, including the Balearic Minister for Employment, Eberhard Grosske, gathered at the controversial site yesterday as part of a “passive” protest.