A stadium in the Spanish resort of Palma de Mallorca played a banned fascist anthem on Sunday amid controversy over the reintroduction of bullfighting on the Spanish island of Mallorca.
The song, known as “Cara al Sol” or “Face au soleil”, was the anthem of the Phalange, the far-right party of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, who ruled the country until 1975. Sunday’s game was the first since the song was banned by the local government two years ago, The Guardian reported. The ban was later overturned by the Supreme Court.
As the anthem played, hundreds of demonstrators stood outside the arena to protest, shouting that bullfighting was “torture” rather than an art. Bullfights are frequently reported in the cultural pages of Spanish newspapers.
The Phalangists were a major component of the nationalist side in the Spanish Civil War.
“Anti-Semitic propaganda, including the notorious fictional book ‘The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ circulated throughout the territories held by the Nationalists” during the war, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Among those supporting the fight was Jorge Campos, the local leader of the far-right Vox party. Vox’s platform, whose name means “voice” in Latin, is to defend Spain against what it says are the dangers of separatism, Muslim immigration, feminism and liberals.
In March, the party nominated a Holocaust revisionist as a congressional candidate for the city of Albacete, in central Spain. The candidate, historian Fernando Paz, quickly dropped out of the race, citing the scrutiny he faced in the Spanish media. Other Vox candidates include retired generals who defend Franco’s far-right regime.
In April, Likud’s director of foreign affairs Eli Hazan apologized for backing Vox ahead of the country’s general election on Sunday. Hazan had tweeted good luck to the leader of Vox during the general election and called the extremist party a “sister party to Likud” in the European Parliament.
