MADRID EASTER: NO COUNTER-PROCESSION FOR ATHEISTS

          The Madrid Association of Atheists and Freethinkers (Asociación Madrileña de Ateos y Librepensadores) failed to obtain a permit for their "procession" on Maundy Thursday. This is the second year the association applied for the permit and was turned down by the Office of the Central Government's Delegate (Delegación del Gobierno) in Madrid.

"Christ of the Seven Last Words," a

sacred image that becomes extra-relevant

among Caholics during the Holy Week

          The delegate's office swears it has no quarrel with the association's constitutional right to demonstrate but in the circumstances it is "evident" that what the atheists are up to is to "provoke" the Catholics for whom Maundy Thursday is a very special day, being the eve of Christ's death on the cross.

          The atheists and freethinkers' association wants to stage its own "procession" at 8:00 P.M. in the centrally located neighborhood of Lavapiés where and when various religious processions will be passing through.

          The members of the association say they just want to have equal rights with the Catholics and to demonstrate against the entrenched privileges of the Catholic Church. They're thinking of taking the Office of the Government's Delegate to court.