Millions in Madrid protest terror attacks

People demonstrate in Cibeles square protesting the train bombings which left 199 dead and over 1400 injured on Thursday in Madrid, two days before the general elections in Spain. Nearly 12 million people took part in the demonstration condemning terrorism across Spain. PHOTO: AFP

Many of the estimated 2.3 million marchers in Madrid huddled against a steady rain in a bobbing mass of umbrellas that clogged the capital's squares and the area around the Atocha station, where two of the four trains blew up during Thursday morning's rush hour.

"It is not raining. Madrid is crying," said Jorge Mendez, a 20-year-old telecommunications student.

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In a show of national unity, massive crowds also gathered in Barcelona, Seville, Valencia and even in Spain's Canary Islands off Western Africa. Nationwide, nearly 12 million marched, state TV said.

Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who was joined by other European leaders as he led one march, pledged to hunt down the terrorists whose bombs sparked new fears about Europe's vulnerability to attack.

The debate over who was responsible for the attacks could affect the outcome of national elections set for Sunday.

Aznar and his government ministers blamed the armed group ETA, which has fought for decades for an independent Basque homeland. But there was concern that Islamic militants and perhaps even the al-Qaeda terror network had been involved.

"So far, none of the intelligence services or security forces we have contacted have provided reliable information to the effect that it could have been an Islamic terrorist organization," Interior Minister Angel Acebes said Friday.

If ETA is found responsible, that could boost support for Mariano Rajoy, Aznar's hand-picked candidate to succeed him as prime minister. Both have supported a crackdown on ETA's campaign for an independent state in northern Spain, ruling out talks and backing a ban on ETA's political wing, Batasuna.

However, if Thursday's bombings are seen by voters as the work of al-Qaeda, that could draw their attention to Aznar's vastly unpopular decision to endorse the US-led invasion of Iraq and deploy Spanish troops there.

Rajoy is 3-5 percentage points ahead of Socialist candidate Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in polls. Polls close Sunday at 2 p.m. EST and exit poll results will be available soon thereafter.