On the 53rd anniversary of Spanish dictator General Franco, thousands of pro-fascists marched across Madrid, stopping along the way to attack feminist activists.

Three topless activists from the feminist group Femen were attacked during a march on Sunday commemorating the anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco who died on November 20, 1975.

The three women joined the march, chanting, "Legal fascism, national shame," a slogan they had also written on their chests, and were promptly wrestled to the ground, before being violently kicked and spat on, by pro-Franco demonstrators until police separated the opposing protesters.

The pro-Franco protest was organised to call for the repeal of the Historical Memory Law which recognises the victims on both sides of the Spanish Civil War and gives rights to the victims and the descendants of victims of the war and Franco's subsequent fascist dictatorship, formally condemning the Franco regime.

Protesters also demonstrated against plans to move Franco's remains from a state-funded mausoleum under a plan by Spain's new socialist government to transform the monument into a place to remember the civil war rather than glorify the dictatorship.