Angry scenes but city officials insist temporary display including a headless statue of brutal dictator on horseback is meant to denounce, not praise

Protests and a hail of eggs erupted as the municipality of Barcelona unveiled a controversial exhibition on the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

The temporary exhibition – called Franco, Victory, Republic, Impunity and Urban Space, features sculptures placed on Barcelona’s streets more than 40 years after the death of the dictator heralded the country’s transition to democracy.



One sculpture depicts a headless Franco on horseback; another pays homage to the victory of his troops in the Spanish civil war. Both were pelted with eggs within minutes of going on display.

A Franco victims’ group held a silent protest during the presentation of the works, while Catalan separatists chanted “no fascists on our streets”.

But the Barcelona deputy mayor, Gerardo Pisarello, said the aim of the exhibition was “to denounce the crimes of Francoism and impunity, even in democracy”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man is held back as he tries to hit another during the installation of the Franco exhibition outside the Mercat de Born cultural centre in Barcelona. Photograph: Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images

Catalan nationalists argue that the exhibition, scheduled to end in January, trivialises the crimes of Franco’s dictatorship, which came down hard on regional separatists.

During its transition to democracy Spain passed a law granting amnesty for crimes committed by the dictatorship during the 1936-39 Spanish civil war.

The 1977 amnesty law prevents Spain from investigating and trying the crimes of the civil war era and the repressive right-wing dictatorship of Franco that followed until his death in 1975.

Despite another law requiring the removal of Francoist symbols from public places, some are still present in many municipalities.

Agence France-Presse