Statue of Francisco Franco / eggs

On October 18, 2016, a headless statue of the Spanish dictator was pelted with eggs after being temporarily installed on a Barcelona street as part of the city-sponsored public exhibition “Franco, Republic, Impunity and Urban Space.”

Scuffles broke out between people who wished to ban the historical display and those who backed the decision by Barcelona’s left-wing council to open the exhibition. As soon as the equestrian statue was put in place outside the Born cultural centre, protesters arrived, some throwing eggs at the figure. It was unclear whether those individuals faced legal penalties. The sculpture itself was not permanently damaged.

This was not the sculpture’s first encounter with vandals: the figure was decapitated by an unidentified party while in municipal storage after being removed from Barcelona’s Montjüic palace in 2001.