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WORLD NEWS Friday 25 OctOber 2019

Spain begins exhuming late dictator Gen. Franco's remains

BY CIARAN GILES dictator, said she felt "out-
Associated Press raged" with what was hap-
MADRID (AP) — Spain is pening and accused the
exhuming the remains of government of "desecrat-
Spanish dictator Gen. Fran- ing a tomb."
cisco Franco from his gran- Ex-Spanish Prime Minister
diose mausoleum outside Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapa-
Madrid so he can be rebur- tero told Spanish national
ied in a small family crypt television that the exhuma-
north of the capital. tion "has great significance
The government-ordered, for our democracy. Today
closed-door operation on our democracy is more
Thursday satisfies a de- perfect."
cades-old desire of many in According to the Spanish
Spain who considered the daily newspaper El Pais,
vainglorious mausoleum it's a major moment for the
that Franco built an affront country: "Spain finishes with
to the tens of thousands the last major symbol of
who died in Spain's Civil the dictatorship," it said in
War and his subsequent re- its main headline to its print
gime and to Spain's stand- edition Thursday.
ing as a modern democrat- The exhumation and re-
ic state. burial will not put an end to
The event, which has been People carrying a banner reading in Spanish "Franco is alive" and holding a pre-constitutional Franco's legacy on Spain's
criticized by some conser- Spanish flag stand outside the Fallen mausoleum near El Escorial, outskirts of Madrid, Thursday, political scene, since it
vatives, was broadcast live Oct. 24, 2019. comes just weeks ahead of
by Spain's main TV chan- Associated Press the country's Nov. 10 gen-
nels and media websites. 57-kilometer (35-mile) drive the 22 Franco family mem- cemetery although some eral election.
Franco's coffin was being away. bers, government authori- 400 people, some waving Franco ruled Spain be-
extracted from under mar- In a bid to guarantee pri- ties and workers allowed Franco-era flags and sym- tween 1939 and 1975, after
ble slabs and two tons of vacy and avoid the actual into the mausoleum. bols and chanting "Viva he and other officers led a
granite. Depending on the exhumation operation be- Fearing disturbances, the Franco" gathered near military insurrection against
weather, it was to be tak- ing videoed and posted government banned a the cemetery while police the Spanish democratic
en by helicopter or hearse on social media, the gov- demonstration against the looked on. government in 1936, a
to Mingorrubio cemetery ernment banned cameras exhumation by Franco sup- Macarena Martínez Bor- move that started a three-
where his wife is buried — a and mobile phones among porters at the Mingorrubio diu, a distant relative of the year civil war.q

Greek police clash with students

protesting business reforms

By DEREK GATOPOULOS Clashes also occurred dur- ing that the reforms will
COSTAS KANTOURIS ing a student protest in the help persuade European
Associated Press northern city of Thessaloniki. creditors to ease repay-
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Po- No arrests were reported. ment conditions debts from
lice clashed with students The three-month-old gov- three consecutive interna-
in Greece's two largest cit- ernment of Prime Minister tional bailouts.
ies Thursday amid strikes Kyriakos Mitsotakis says the But unions argue that long-
and street protests against reforms will simplify regula- standing workers' rights will
a planned overhaul of busi- tions and boost investment be eroded by the reforms,
ness rules by the new con- as Greece emerges from a including the right to nego- University students clash with the riot police during a protest
servative government. protracted financial crisis. tiate pay through collective outside the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace in the northern
In Athens, one protester Mitsotakis wants to boost bargaining with employers. Greek port city of Thessaloniki, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2019.
and one policeman were growth with more aggres- Critics also oppose the ex- Associated Press
hurt when a confrontation sive pro-business policies, panded use of private sec- Municipal workers contin- pal workers marched to
between students and po- promising to deliver 2.8% tor services at local govern- ued a strike for a second Greece's parliament. Dur-
lice turned violent outside growth next year, higher ment agencies and argue day, disrupted garbage ing the rally, some of the
parliament. Police used than the European Com- that the value of qualifica- collection and other servic- protest organizers carried
tear gas to disperse the mission's forecast of 2.2%. tions from state-run universi- es in Athens and elsewhere. an empty coffin and wore
demonstrators. His government is also hop- ties may be undermined. More than 2,000 munici- masks.q