Spain fires captain whose soldiers knelt at Franco memorial

By CIARÁN GILES
Associated Press

Madrid (AP) — 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 the late Gen. Francisco Franco. The Defense Ministry said Thursday that the captain was dismissed within hours of the video being posted and that an investigation was underway. The video posted by a pro-democracy army group showed the soldiers kneeling with rifles in their hands as a priest blessed them. The video was seen as tarnishing Spain’s image as a democratic and secular state.