Posted on 02/02/2005 1:47:36 PM PST by Alex Marko
Protesters rough up Spain's macho defence minister
SPAIN'S defence minister, José Bono, likes to wrap himself in the national flag. He is less used to being struck by one, as he was at a protest last weekend staged by the Association of Victims of Terrorism in Madrid. The 35,000-strong rally was called to commemorate all victims of terrorism, including those killed in the March 11th Madrid train bombings. But the protesters' bigger target was the Basque terrorist group, ETA. And the attack on Mr Bono was the work of right-wing thugs.
What Mr Bono, a devout Catholic and patriot who prides himself on being a macho ibérico, received seems to have been a “gay-bashing”, provoked by the government's promotion of gay rights. “Hate-filled women” in fur coats punched him; others called him an “assassin” and a “defender of poofters”. He and another Socialist politician fled, after a man wielding an iron bar joined the attack. The police questioned two members of an opposition People's Party (PP) committee, one of whom was photographed clasping a broken flagpole.
That the macho Mr Bono, of all Socialists, should be attacked shows both how few brains the mob had and how edgy some on the right now are. As a spokeswoman for the March 11th Victims Association, Pilar Manjón, who did not attend the rally, said, “it seemed like those people were the same ones who told me that they would ‘stick my dead up my arse’.” Another target of verbal abuse was Gregorio Peces-Barba, a Socialist recently appointed as ombudsman of all victims' groups. He called on both main parties to stop making political capital out of victims.
Neo-fascist skinheads were notably absent from the rally. A PP spokesman roundly condemned the attacks, which were started by middle-aged right-wingers. The old nationalist chant, “United, Spain will not be defeated”, was directed at the Socialist government, whose opposition to the Basques' plan for a referendum on becoming a free state is deemed too soft. Fears are also stirring on the right since the government said it might talk to ETA if it laid down its weapons for good.
Above all, the attacks point up how angry right-wingers are over the government's raft of social reforms. They also testify to a refusal to come to terms with the PP's defeat last March. Many believe the election was stolen only by the aftermath of the March 11th bombings.
Yet most Spaniards still back the Socialists. The latest polls put the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero eight points ahead of the PP. And one poll shows a seven-point rise in the popularity of the PP leader, Mariano Rajoy, after he resisted a more antagonistic path and made a pact with Mr Zapatero to present a joint response to the Basques. Less rabble-rousing and more deliberation are surely the best route for the PP to take.
There was no attack on Bono. Even the police refused to arrest the alleged attackers until they were forced to do so by the Socialist government. Bono himself initially said nothing had happened to him.
One of Bono's bodyguards broke the broomstick that someone was using to wave a Spanish flag. This person did not hit Bono, either with the flag or with the stump of the broomstick that was left. When the police examined the photos and arrested everyone around Bono, they had to let them go without charges, because there was no attack on Bono. (Personally, I think there should have been, because he was on our [American] continent negotiating with Chavez two days after this fictional "attack.")
Interesting that FR is now being trolled by Spanish leftists.
BTW, Peces Barba didn't even bother to show up at the meeting, which was one of the things that upset the crowd.
Sounds like Taiwan..........not Spain.
Bono's a leftist. He's about as "devout" a Catholic as John Kerry.
The leftists are claiming he was "attacked" by members of the Conservative party (PP) at an anti-terrorism rally which Peces Barba, the Government-appointed leader of the Victims of (ETA) Terrorism group, was supposed to attend but at which he never appeared because the Socialists are courting ETA.
Bono, who is the Defense Minister, was not attacked by anybody; people were quite upset because the official representative did not appear, and started chanting and moving around, and he left quickly because he felt threatened (although it is not clear that most people even knew he was there). Many of the people at the meeting were older, because they are the parents of people killed by terrorists.
To cover up the failure of Peces Barba to appear, the Socialists announced that Bono had been "attacked by right wingers." You can watch the videos of this and see that nothing of the sort happened, and everyone arrested in this has been released because there were no grounds for charges.
More left-wing manipulation.
It's Spain - under the left. Welcome to the Brave New World of Spanish Socialism.
Bono is as devout a Catholic as Kerry, and he's not a patriot either, unless you consider Socialism to be his país. Furthermore, he and the entire Spanish government have spent day and night promoting "gay marriage," though he's the Defense Minister and, in theory, has other things to do. But actually, he's been doing them, because he did have time to visit Hugo Chavez and sign the papers for Spain to start producing naval vessels for Venezuela, which is Zapatero's favorite Socialist hell-hole.
Devout Catholics don't work for Zapatero. Especially in a country where the Socialists have a historical record of murdering priests and nuns.
Violence is not justified of course, but Mr. Bono is certainly no devout Catholic, given his promotion of same sex marriage.
I was wondering where my ex-wife was this week.
Deeee-lish! *slurp*
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