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Spain fires captain whose soldiers knelt at Franco memorial
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FILE - The Valley of the Fallen mausoleum, near El Escorial, outskirts of Madrid, Spain, on Oct. 13, 2019. Spain’s armed forces have fired an army captain after a video was posted on social media showing some 30 soldiers kneeling in front of the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum, the most potent existing symbol of the dictatorship of late Gen. Francisco Franco. The Defense Ministry said Thursday the captain was dismissed within hours of the video being posted and that an investigation was underway. - photo by AP Photo/Manu Fernandez
Madrid (AP) — Spain's armed forces have fired an army captain after a video showed some 30 soldiers of the officer's unit kneeling in front of the Valley of the Fallen mausoleum, the most potent existing symbol of the dictatorship of the late Gen. Francisco Franco. The Defense Ministry said Thursday that the captain was dismissed within hours of the video being posted on social media and that an investigation into the incident would be completed within 48 hours. The video posted by a pro-democracy army group showed the soldiers kneeling with rifles in their hands on the steps at the mausoleum's esplanade as a priest blessed them.