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You are here: Home Life in News Focus Seven days that shook Spain

18/03/2004Seven days that shook Spain

A week after the devastating terrorist attacks in Madrid, life in Spain has been turned upside down. A new anger and wariness are mixed with some optimism as a new government takes power. What a difference seven days make.

The people who died or were injured were in the path of the direct blast

At about 7.39am  on 11 March ten explosions tore through three rail stations in Madrid.

So far, 202 people have lost their lives and more than 1,600 were injured.

The people who died or were injured, travelling on those trains, commuting to work or perhaps going to school, were in the path of the direct blast.

Beyond these victims, hundreds of families have been devastated by losing loved ones.

Others are trying to come to terms with the realisation that their husbands or girlfriends may live the rest of their lives in wheelchairs or with permanent disfigurements.

Eight children who go to the same Madrid school and were all orphaned in the blasts must grow up without mothers or fathers.

Zapatero is reluctant to admit his victory was solely down to the bombings

Apart from these people, thousands of those who dealt with the horrifying attacks just a week ago are still coming to terms with the shock now.

Simply put, nothing has been the same since.

Aside from the obvious shock, trauma and distress the bombs caused, it seems the terrorist attacks changed Spain fundamentally.

Angered at the way their government reacted to this national crisis, Spaniards voted in the Socialists. The result shocked those inside and outside Spain.

The Partido Popular lost the election despite a series of polls which predicted it would win; Spain's healthy economic outlook was enough to give voters an appetite for another four years of the PP.

But others realised that outgoing prime minister Jose Maria Aznar's support for the Iraq war was a fundamental mistake.

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