An officer has been fired from Spain’s armed forces after a video clip showed how his crew fell to their knees at the former dictator Franco’s main memorial site.
The film shows about 30 soldiers kneeling with weapons in hand at the magnificent mausoleum in the Valley of the Fallen outside Madrid. Fascist leader Francisco Franco was buried there until 2019, when his remains were exhumed and moved to a smaller grand site.
The Ministry of Defense announces that the soldiers’ officers were fired within a few hours of the clip beginning to spread. An inquiry has also been appointed.
The cemetery, with a huge cross that can be seen from several kilometers away, has long been a gathering place for right-wing extremists who want to honor Franco’s memory. It has also been seen as a major insult to the victims of fascism, which led to the relocation of the dictator’s remains.