"Terrorism in Madrid March 11, 2004 " a Madrid Travel Page by mesoblonda

Flying from Paris to Madrid on the day of the bombings, the atmosphere was somber. I thought back to our horrible day, September 11.

Many people were convinced the acts of terrorism were caused by ETA, an extremist group fighting to create a seperate country in part of Spain. Sitting next to a journalist from France during my flight, her comments made me realize that this was probably NOT the workings of ETA.

As we all found out later, Al Queida was spreading it's poison once again.

Wandering aimlessly downtown at noon, all of a sudden everything came to a standstill. People in shops came out, cars, buses and taxicabs stopped in the middle of the street. A group of people carrying the white cloth that you see spanned the street where 15 minutes of silence honored the dead.

Police were allowed through, but no other vehicle dared move.

I feel priviledged to have accidentally become a part of this moment in history.