A dog wearing a Spanish Republican flag around its neck stands by a banner that reads "Truth, justice and reparation for victims of Franco dictatorship" during a protest to remove the remains of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco from the Valle de los Caid
MADRID: Spanish police have intervened to keep trouble from erupting at a rally marking the anniversary of military dictator Francisco Franco's death after feminist protesters interrupted the event in Madrid.
Officers on horseback and on foot quickly moved to keep an angry crowd of about 200 away from the three members of the Feminist group Femen who ran into the gathering topless and with "Legal fascism, national shame" painted on their torsos.
The rally is held annually on the Sunday falling closest to Nov. 20, the date Franco died in 1975. The general ruled Spain for 36 years after leading a military uprising that started the Spanish Civil War.
Spain's Socialist-led government is planning to exhume Franco's remains from an elaborate mausoleum outside Madrid. The decision has infuriated Spaniards nostalgic for the dictatorship.
