Madrid mourns train tragedy
2005-03-11 11:31
Madrid - Church bells tolled across Madrid on Friday as Spain marked the first anniversary of the train bombings which killed 191 people in the country's worst-ever terrorist attack.
Politicians and city authorities stood in quiet reflection as the bells of the city's 650 churches rang out, one by one, from 07:37 - the exact time the first of 10 bombs exploded in attacks on four packed commuter trains a year ago.
The bells tolled for five minutes as the first rays of sunlight slanted over the rooftops of a city still in shock 12 months after the blasts, which left 1 900 people injured, and have been blamed on mainly Moroccan Islamic extremists loyal to al-Qaeda.
Dignitaries, including United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Spanish King Juan Carlos, will attend the opening of a park of remembrance in central Madrid where 192 cypress and olive trees will be planted in memory of the victims, and of a policeman who died in a raid on a suspect's flat in early April.
Early-morning commuters stoically maintained their usual routine as tens of thousands travelled into work on public transport, some with their heads buried in books but many devouring the morning paper.
The number of casualties would have been far higher had the explosives, packed into rucksacks, gone off seconds later than they did, when two of the "trains of death" were due to arrive at a packed central subway interchange.
The blasts went off within three minutes of each other at three stations, on board trains which had originated from Alcala de Henares, a small historical town just east of Madrid and the birthplace of author Miguel de Cervantes.
After a five-minute silence at midday, the Cant dells ocells (the chant of birds) of cellist Pablo Casals will be performed before dignitaries including Spanish King Juan Carlos, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Moroccan King Mohamed VI and the UN secretary general.
A funeral mass was be held at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral late in the day.
Many of those who survived are still struggling with the physical and psychological consequences. Several have expressed disgust at the party politicking which has dominated the months-long investigation into the blasts.
Pilar Manjon, head of the victims' association, told El Periodio in an interview published on Friday that Spain in her view "lacks the political will for the truth to flourish."
The head of the Islamic Commission representing Spain's sizeable Muslim community, Riay Tatary, told Cadena Ser radio that the day provoked "deep pain for all Muslims."