SPAIN

Guardian: Sick, afraid, defiant - they marched in their millions
No one was sure whether it was over. Bob Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door and U2's Bloody Sunday hummed from radios, in between tearful speeches from DJs.
On screens in empty bars, newscasters were carefully listing the distinguishing features of corpses which hadn't been claimed - woman in her 30s, height: 5ft. Children left uncollected at kindergarten were presumed to have gone to relatives to sit by the phone.

In the streets, Spanish flags with black ribbons clung to every available facade, lamppost, cashpoint, streetsweeping machine in Madrid.

But there was a reticence before the grieving and demonstrations began. A fear that there could possibly be more to come: another blast, another explosion. Because, as one tax inspector said as he entered a terrifyingly empty tapas bar, "we're in some kind of suspended nightmare. We still don't know what the hell is going on here. Why? Someone, please, tell me why."

Then, slowly, thousands began to congregate in squares, unfurling banners begging "We don't want to die" and "Death to ETA", "Peace not terrorism". As the thousands multiplied into a million, and then two, Madrid knew it was witnessing the biggest mass-protest in Spanish history

An architect with a Spanish flag brushed off Eta's denial of the attack. "Of course it was Eta," she spat. She would vote for prime minister José María Aznar on Sunday.

A civil servant from Madrid would spoil his vote. "Al-Qaida did this but it doesn't suit our pro-war government to tell us until the elections are over."