Grande-Marlaska: "On 11 March, Spanish society once again demonstrated that there is no terrorism capable of breaking it"

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, inaugurates the exhibition '20th Anniversary of 11 March. Memories of pain and solidarity'

The Minister for Home Affairs, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has inaugurated the exhibition '20 años del 11M. Memoria de dolor y solidaridad', organised by the Fundación Víctimas del Terrorismo and the Centro Memorial de las Víctimas del Terrorismo to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the jihadist attack perpetrated on 11 March 2004 in Madrid.

The exhibition is made up of 67 photographs from the graphical archive of the EFE Agency, selected by two journalists from the agency, Sagrario Ortega and Laura Camacho, who have curated the design of the exhibition, open to the public until 21 March at the Plaza de la Armería in Madrid. It will then remain on display until 31 March in the Maruja Mallo exhibition hall in the capital, before moving to the Memorial Centre in Vitoria.

In his speech, Grande-Marlaska stressed that "the exhibition we have just visited combines two elements of a binomial formed by the press and the victims that, when aligned, consolidate one of the most solid social defence mechanisms in the face of terrorist aggression".

The Minister for Home Affairs was joined at the opening ceremony by the president of Patrimonio Nacional (the organisation that owns the space where the exhibition is on display), Ana de la Cueva; the curators of the exhibition and the president of Fundación de Víctimas del Terrorismo, Juan Benito Valenciano. Also in attendance were the president of the EFE Agency, Miguel Ángel Oliver; the Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, as well as representatives of the organisations and associations of victims of terrorism and the State Law Enforcement Forces and Agencies.

The Minister for Home Affairs congratulated all those who have worked on preparing the exhibition "which is much more than the memory of what is still the biggest terrorist attack on European soil in the last century, because in reality it reflects the suffering but also the commitment and, in the end, the triumph of a society, the Spanish society, which did not hesitate for a second to demonstrate once again that there is no terrorism capable of breaking it".

Nine chapters

The exhibition is structured around nine sections articulated around an image and an introductory text (Spanish-English) that helps to contextualise the informative content of the images that make up each chapter, which are the following:

1. Introduction

Madrid, on 11 March 2004, suffered the worst terrorist attack ever perpetrated on European soil. It left 193 dead and more than 2,000 injured, but also two memories: solidarity and an effective response to a tragedy of such scale.

2. Background

It was at the beginning of the 21st century that the threat of jihadist terrorism, hitherto almost unknown in the West, became apparent. On 11 September 2001, nineteen members of the Al Qaeda network hijacked commercial airliners to crash them into various targets, including the Twin Towers in New York.

The attack killed at least 2,996 people and injured 25,000. Much earlier, in 1985, Spain was the target of this type of terrorism, when the restaurant 'El Descanso' in Torrejón de Ardoz was bombed, killing 18 people.

3. The 11 March attacks

It was 7:39 a.m. on 11 March 2004 when three bombs exploded on a train arriving at Atocha from Guadalajara. Three minutes later, four more bombs exploded in a convoy that was 500 metres from the station, at calle Téllez. Simultaneously, two other explosions were recorded at Pozo del Tío Raimundo station and a final one at Santa Eugenia station. Ten bombs on four trains running at rush hour, with hundreds of workers and students from the capital of Alcarria, Alcalá de Henares and the suburbs of Madrid.

4. The victims

The simultaneous explosion of ten bombs on the four trains killed 192 people: Thirty-four perished in Atocha; 63 in front of calle Téllez, 65 in the one at Pozo del Tío Raimundo station, 14 in Santa Eugenia and another 16 in different hospitals; the last of them in 2014 after a decade in a coma. Added to these 192 fatalities of 11 March was the sub-inspector of the Special Operations Group (GEO) of the National Police, Francisco Javier Torronteras, who died in the attack on the flat in Leganés (Madrid) on 3 April when seven members of the jihadist cell blew themselves up.

The dead belonged to 17 different nationalities, with the Spanish nationality, with 144 deaths, being the most affected. After Spaniards, the most numerous fatalities were from Romania, with 16 killed; Ecuador, with six; Bulgaria and Poland, with four; and Peru, with three.

The explosions injured 2,084 travellers. Nearly a hundred people were left with a high degree of physical disability, in many cases rendering them unable to work for life.

5. Madrid, a city of solidarity

11 March 2004 was Madrid's darkest hour, but also a day on which the people of Madrid and the whole of Spain displayed their solidarity and the effective response of the emergency services to an unprecedented massacre.

Neighbours in their pyjamas helped the injured with whatever they could, citizens left their jobs and classes to donate blood or to transport those affected to hospitals, where many of the patients who had been admitted voluntarily asked to leave their beds.

Taxis and buses turned into ambulances and free transport for families arriving at the morgue set up at Ifema, where hundreds of psychologists volunteered.

Hoteliers who gave up their rooms to relatives; doctors, nurses, firefighters, police officers and forensic experts who volunteered to help in the field hospitals such as the one set up in the 'Daoiz y Velarde' sports centre, one of the emblems of the immediate response to the attack which, barely 500 metres from Atocha, treated 250 people, of whom ten died.

The attack did not paralyse Madrid, which, pained, revolted against the barbarity in a serene manner without falling into the trap of racism, xenophobia and hatred.

6. The reactions

A wave of grief and solidarity swept across Spain, dumbfounded by the scale of the massacre, and crossed borders in a unanimous outcry against terrorist barbarity. The Government decreed three days of mourning and flags were flown at half-mast in all the country's institutions.

Meanwhile, in a spontaneous reaction, citizens built makeshift altars of candles, flowers and white hand signs at the stations where the bombs went off. Thousands of people passed through them who, powerless, did not want to forget what happened.

7. The judicial process

The investigation into the bloodiest terrorist action ever committed in Spain began on the day of the attacks and resulted in the indictment of 116 defendants by National High Court Judge Juan Del Olmo. In the end, 29 were tried, for whom prosecutors requested a total of 270,885 years in prison.

Two years later, on 2 July 2007, the trial that had begun four and a half months earlier in facilities set up by the National High Court in Madrid's Casa de Campo was scheduled for sentencing. On 31 October 2007, the National High Court handed down a ruling that made it clear that the attack was the work of jihadist-type terrorist cells or groups.

8. The footprint of terrorism in Madrid

Madrid is the region of Europe most affected by terrorism, with more than 400 fatal victims of attacks by different organisations (ETA, GRAPO or ultra-right-wing groups), in addition to thousands of wounded. But it is jihadist terrorism that has caused the greatest number of victims in Madrid; just two attacks (against the 'El Descanso' restaurant in Torrejón de Ardoz and the 11 March attack) have killed 211 people and injured more than 2,100. This exhibition pays tribute to all the victims.

9. In Memoriam

A single photograph shows the wreath laying during the tribute in memory of the victims of 11 March held in the Forest of Remembrance in El Retiro Park to mark the ninth anniversary of the terrorist tragedy.

"This exhibition is an act of advertising values that we all share, such as freedom, pluralism and peace. These are values that we must spread everywhere in order to generate a culture of coexistence and respect for others and, in particular, for those who profess beliefs or ideas different from our own, because they are essential values for building a democratic system of peaceful coexistence such as the one we want for Spain", concluded the Minister for Home Affairs after visiting the exhibition.

Non official translation