Thousands protests over bomb attack

Madrid - Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Madrid yesterday in outrage at the killing of three people…

Madrid - Hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Madrid yesterday in outrage at the killing of three people in the bloodiest attack blamed on Basque separatists ETA since a truce ended last year.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who himself narrowly escaped an ETA assassination attempt in 1995, led a peaceful protest through one of Madrid's main arteries.

The protest was in response to the killing on Monday of a Supreme Court judge, his bodyguard and chauffeur, in a bomb attack in Madrid's wealthy Arturo Soria district.

Mr Aznar was flanked by leading politicians carrying a banner which read "For freedom, against terrorism. ETA no."

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A crowd of up to 250,000 people walked the one kilometre from Cibeles Square to the city's centre point at Puerta del Sol.

Six people have been killed in attacks blamed on ETA in October alone and 19 so far this year.