Spaniards march against N.A.T.O.
NZPA-Reuter Madrid
Rally organisers said about 750,000 marched through Madrid yesterday to demand Spain’s withdrawal from N.A.T.O. State-run television said “hundreds of thousands” took part in the demonstration.
More than 150 pacifist, ecologist and Leftist politi- j cal groups which organised the demonstration said 25,000 people converged on Madrid in chartered buses and trains.
The activists were determined to make the rally the biggest in their efforts to achieve Spain’s withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in a national referendum set for March 12.
They got a big boost from the latest public
opinion polls which put the anti-N.A.T.O. vote at 34 per cent, nine points ahead of those who want to remain in the alliance. With the Socialist Government campaigning to retain membership and the pfo-N.A.T.O. Right boycotting the referendum, the challenge mounted by the antiN.A.T.O. faction seems small by comparison. . The Prime Minister, Felipe Gonzalez, who was elected in 1982 on an antiN.A.T.O. platform,
changed socialist policy once in power to favour retention of alliance membership. In spite of an Intensive pro-N.A.T.O. campaign and lengthy radio and television appearances, Mr Gonzalez is having difficulties in persuading socialist voters to follow his change of heart.
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Press, 25 February 1986, Page 8
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201Spaniards march against N.A.T.O. Press, 25 February 1986, Page 8
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