PALMA PROTEST OVER LATEST ETA KILLINGS

SOME two hundred people gathered yesterday at the doors of Palma's City Hall in order to condemn the latest atrocity carried out by the terrorist group ETA and to pay a simple tribute to the two policemen who died last week in the area of Sangüesa in Navarra, victims of a car bomb which left another National Policeman and a Telefonica engineer seriously injured A sizeable group of representatives of the principal public institutions and from Balearic and Majorcan political parties gathered in the Plaza de Cort at midday to hold a few minutes silence in remembrance of the National Police officers Bonifacio Martín Hernando and Julián Envit Luna, who lost their lives last Friday.

ANGRY
Amongst the authorities and civil servants who attended were the Parliamentary Speaker, Maximiliano Morales, the president of the Insular Council of Majorca María Antonia Munar, and the former Balearic government ministers for tourism, and new initiatives and energy Celestí Alomar and Príam Villalonta, respectively. A number of members of parliament and Palma city councillors also participated in the protest as did Andreu Genovart, the administrator for the diocese of Majorca, along with angry members of the public and tourists who also applauded at the end of the proceedings. The acting Parliamentary Speaker Maximiliano Morales assured reporters that by joining in protest, “people who believe in democracy, yet again, want to show their solidarity and support for the State security forces and for all those who keep watch over law and order. The democrats will win this match because terrorists don't have patience, and we will insist more each day on the resolution of this conflict by peaceful means”, maintained Morales, who insisted that “democracy will win”. Andreu Genovart, the administrator of the diocese of Majorca declared that it was a “great misfortune” that his attendance at the simple tribute should be one of the first acts of public duty he had carried out since taking on his new post, after the death a few weeks ago of Mgr Teodoro Ubeda, the Bishop of Majorca. Yesterday's gathering must be “the last time that we officially come together” to keep a few minutes silence, during which “I have prayed that the terrorists don't pursue this course of action”.

APPALLED “We must each be convinced, and I am the first, that to cut down human lives is a means of achieving absolutely nothing in the Basque country; respect for human life comes before everything else” claimed Genovart. The acting President of the Council of Majorca, Maria Antonia Munar, declared that “we are appalled that day after day, terrorism claims new victims”, and for that reason “we want to reach an agreement between all parties so that it might be possible to bring this carnage to an end.”

PALMA PROTEST OVER
LATEST ETA KILLINGS