Hundreds in Spain Mark Franco's Death

Right-wingers give stiff-armed fascist salutes during a gathering to remember the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco on the 31st anniversary of his death, Madrid, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2006. Franco died in 1975 at the age of 82 after nearly 40 years of right-wing rule. (AP Photo/Paul White) (Paul White - AP)

MADRID, Spain -- Hundreds of right-wing supporters, many making stiff-armed fascist salutes and chanting insults against gays and immigrants, gathered Sunday to mark the 31st anniversary of the death of Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco.

The crowd, mostly retirees, waved red-and-yellow Spanish flags with the insignia of the Franco regime's Falange party at the annual rally in Plaza de Oriente.

The square was where Franco, who died in 1975 at the age of 82, used to regularly address hundreds of thousands of supporters at rallies during his near 40 years in power.

Since his death, dwindling numbers of nostalgic supporters commemorate his death on the Sunday closest to Nov. 20. Police gave no official estimate for the attendance on Sunday but witnesses estimated less than 1,000 people participated.

During the meeting, attendants heard speeches criticizing the policies of Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero _ among them the legalization of gay marriage _ and against the huge influx of immigrants into Spain in recent years.

On Saturday, some 4,000 Franco supporters gathered at the Valle de los Caidos mausoleum, 20 miles outside the capital, where the dictator and Falange founder, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, are buried.

Both events are largely ignored by Spain's mainstream political parties and given scant coverage by the national media.