On March 3, 1976, the Spanish Armed Police Corps used tear gas to force the workers on strike out of the parish Church of San Francisco de Asís in the Basque capital of Vitoria-Gasteiz. As the workers left the church, they were shot by the police, resulting in 5 dead and 150 injured with gunshot wounds. The same police later described the events as a massacre. The event inspired Lluís Llach to write the celebrated song Campanades a morts.
Monument to the victims of the March 3, 1976, in the street Bernal Díaz de Luco, in front of the parish of San Francisco de Asís. It was built in 1986.
Manuel Fraga Iribarne, minister of the interior in 1976 (photography of 2007)
Lluís Llach in the Olympia of Paris
Entrance to the parish of San Francisco de Asís.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country and of the province of Álava in northern Spain. It holds the autonomous community's House of Parliament, the headquarters of the Government, and the Lehendakari's official residency. The municipality—which comprises not only the city but also the mainly agricultural lands of 63 villages around—is the largest in the Basque Country, with a total area of 276.81 square kilometres (106.88 sq mi), and it has a population of 253,093. The dwellers of Vitoria-Gasteiz are called vitorianos or gasteiztarrak, while traditionally they are dubbed babazorros.
Image: Vitoria Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, Escultura vegetal Vitoria Gasteiz !
Image: Gasteiz, Euskal Herria
Image: Vitoria Gasteiz Vieille Cathédrale
Image: Vitoria Salburua Ataria 04 edited
