crowd gathered outside Madrid's national court was loud and angry. "The world has been turned upside down," they cried. "The fascists are judging the judge!"
Some carried photographs of long-dead relatives, killed by right-wing death squads in Spain's brutal civil war in the 1930s. Others bore placards bearing the name of the hero they wanted to save, the controversial "superjudge" Baltasar Garzon.
Pedro Romero de Castilla carried a picture of his grandfather, Wenceslao - a former stationmaster taken away from his home in the city of Merida and shot by a death squad at the service of Generalisimo Francisco Franco's right-wing military rebels 74 years ago. The family have never found his body.
Garzon, he explained, had dared to investigate the atrocities of 36 years of Franco's dictatorship and now, as a result, he faces trial for allegedly abusing his powers.
"My grandfather's case is one that Garzon wanted to investigate. He's a brave and intelligent judge, but now the right are out to get him."
Some carried photographs of long-dead relatives, killed by right-wing death squads in Spain's brutal civil war in the 1930s. Others bore placards bearing the name of the hero they wanted to save, the controversial "superjudge" Baltasar Garzon.
Pedro Romero de Castilla carried a picture of his grandfather, Wenceslao - a former stationmaster taken away from his home in the city of Merida and shot by a death squad at the service of Generalisimo Francisco Franco's right-wing military rebels 74 years ago. The family have never found his body.
Garzon, he explained, had dared to investigate the atrocities of 36 years of Franco's dictatorship and now, as a result, he faces trial for allegedly abusing his powers.
"My grandfather's case is one that Garzon wanted to investigate. He's a brave and intelligent judge, but now the right are out to get him."
