Government appeals for unity on October 12 national holiday
Annual military parade, presided by king, takes place in Madrid at cost of €800,000 Basque and Catalan leaders, along with Podemos’ Pablo Iglesias, conspicuously absent
Spain’s King Felipe VI presided over his second military parade as monarch to celebrate the October 12 National Holiday on Monday morning in central Madrid. The military parade, which ran through the capital’s Castellana boulevard, featured 3,500 members of the armed forces and Civil Guard, up by 400 from last year, along with a motorcade of 48 vehicles and a flyby of 53 aircraft.
The parade began at 11am near Atocha railway station, pausing at the Monument to the Fallen with a wreath-laying ceremony, and ending an hour later with a flyby by a display team that left a smoke trail in the red and yellow of the Spanish flag above Columbus square.
The military parade featured 3,500 members of the armed forces and Civil Guard, along with a drive past of 48 vehicles and a flyby of 53 aircraft
At a time of mounting tension over demands for independence from the Catalan regional government, the Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy administration sought to use the occasion to reaffirm national unity, promoting it as “The day for everybody.”
But a number of Spanish politicians decided not to attend the event, including Pablo Iglesias, leader of the left-leaning anti-austerity Podemos party, along with the heads of the regional governments of Navarre, the Basque Country and Catalonia.
The government sought to use the occasion to reaffirm national unity, promoting it as “The day for everybody”
King Felipe was accompanied by Queen Letizia and their two daughters, Leonor and Sofía.
Taking part in the flyby were aircraft used by the Spanish armed forces during humanitarian missions in West Africa to help tackle the ebola epidemic, as well as in Nepal to assist in earthquake rescue efforts.
For the first time, the NATO flag was also carried during the parade. Spain will be hosting the Trident Juncture maneuvers later this year, NATO’s largest ever military training exercise.
The cost of the event was €800,000, excluding the flyby. Following the parade, King Felipe and Queen Letizia held the traditional reception at the Royal Palace, where around 2,000 guests were expected.
The absent
It is rare for the heads of the regional governments of Catalonia and the Basque Country to attend the military parade on October 12, and this year was no exception: Artur Mas, the premier of Catalonia, was absent; as was Iñigo Urkullo, the Basque Nationalist Party leader of the regional government of the Basque Country. Uxue Barkos, the regional premier of Navarra, whose party supports Basque independence, chose to attend a meeting in Brussels. Following a mix-up over his invitation, Pablo Iglesias had announced he would not be attending either.
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