PARIS, 13 March 2004 — European countries closed ranks behind Spain yesterday, with at least two prime ministers and many other senior officials vowing to travel to Madrid to join nationwide demonstrations in sympathy for the victims of the rail bombings.
Leaders across Asia echoed their European counterparts who denounced Thursday’s attack as an assault on Spanish democracy and vowed closer cooperation in the war against terrorism.
The message was also delivered by US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, who said during a trip to Thailand that the “savagery and inhumanity” of the attacks would strengthen the world’s resolve to fight terror.
“Terrorists are not freedom fighters — the world is beginning to understand that,” Ridge told reporters in Bangkok.
The prime ministers of both France and Italy, Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Silvio Berlusconi, were to fly to the Spanish capital to take part in what was expected to be one of the biggest marches ever against terrorism, while Germany was to be represented by its Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer.
Britain’s Europe minister, Denis MacShane, told BBC television said he would be traveling to Spain “to express the solidarity of the government and everybody in Britain in the great march in Madrid tonight.”
At the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, diplomats and officials observed a minute’s silence for 198 people in Thursday’s coordinated attacks on three Madrid stations.
“We stand for civilization and against barbarity; for solidarity in our society; for the respect of life and fundamental liberties,” said Bruno Haller, secretary-general of the pan-European body’s parliamentary assembly.
Portugal’s Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso called for a minute’s silence at 18H00 GMT “in memory of all those who were barbarously murdered in this act of terrorism. “Durao Barroso was to be accompanied by Foreign Minister Teresa Gouveia at the Madrid rally.
Demonstrations were also planned in other European cities, and in Bosnia the 750-strong Spanish contingent serving with the NATO-led Stabilization Force was to hold an evening mass.
Meeting in Slovakia, the presidents of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic — countries which are to join the EU in May — issued a statement condemning the Madrid bombings and expressing their “determination to use all our efforts in the fight against terrorism.”
In Paris, President Jacques Chirac ordered flags on public buildings in France to be lowered to half mast to honor the dead in the Madrid attacks.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard offered his condolences to Spaniards for what he called a “dreadful atrocity without any kind of justification.”
“It’s a reminder, a wake-up call, a sobering jolt back to reality that we do live in an age of international terrorism and no country is free from the threat,” Howard told a radio station. “We just all have to understand that we are potential targets.”
New Zealand Foreign Minister Phil Goff said the bombings were why his country was “so strongly involved in the international campaign against terrorism.”
Japan and the Philippines, firm supporters of American anti-terrorism efforts, called for tougher security measures at home.
In a statement issued by its Foreign Ministry, Singapore condemned the attack and said it underscored “the urgent need for countries to intensify their cooperation in the battle against terrorism.”
Security was stepped up around Spanish embassies and diplomatic missions across Europe. France and Portugal have both reinforced police deployments on their frontiers with Spain. Greece said it is stepping up security and requesting NATO assistance for the Olympic Games in August which are seen as a prime target for terrorists.
Meanwhile, anger and outrage dominated discussions yesterday as Spaniards turned out in the rain in central Madrid to pay their respects to the victims.
Few of those gazing at the improvised shrine at Puerta del Sol square in the center of the capital had a good word to say for right-wing Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose Popular Party had been on course to win a third straight election victory tomorrow.
“I don’t know who did this. But if it was Al-Qaeda then I’d like to ask Mr. Aznar if he think he can sleep soundly for the rest of his life after all these deaths,” said Isabel, 51, lighting four red candles next to a sodden banner proclaiming: “We’re all in the same train. Peace and freedom for everyone”.
“He turned a deaf ear when the whole of Spain demonstrated against the war (on Iraq) and this could be one of the consequences,” she said, visibly shaken.
