Thousands protest at Eta airport bomb attack

Protesters demonstrated throughout Spain against Eta's car-bomb attack at Madrid airport on Saturday that injured 26 people, left two missing and shattered a ceasefire called by the Basque separatists nine months ago.

Thousands poured into Madrid's central Puerta del Sol at midday yesterday carrying Spanish flags and shouting for the socialist Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, to resign. "The government has to realise it can't negotiate with murderers," said one demonstrator as he waved a large scarlet and gold flag.

Others refused to abandon the peace effort. "There's no dialogue with violence, and if there's no dialogue there's no peace process," the socialists' organisation secretary, Jose Blanco, told protesters. Demonstrators were divided between those who repudiated Eta's massive bomb - containing up to 800kg of explosive it was the biggest the organisation had planted in 15 years - and those demanding the government break all links with terrorists.

Saturday's high-profile blast dramatically ended immediate hopes for a negotiated peace process and dealt the worst blow so far to Mr Zapatero's socialist government. Mr Zapatero has staked his authority on trying to solve the longstanding Basque conflict, Spain's most serious political problem, by opting to talk the armed separatists round rather than persist in hitherto fruitless attempts to defeat them. The nine-month ceasefire offered the best chance in decades for an eventual end to the conflict, but was beset from the start by conflicting pressures that yesterday piled upon Mr Zapatero in his darkest moment.

"I have ordered the suspension of all initiatives to develop dialogue. This attack is the most mistaken and useless step that the terrorists have taken ... absolutely incompatible with the ceasefire," a leaden-faced Mr Zapatero said on Saturday, having cut short his holiday to return to Madrid. Until Eta abandoned violence "there will be no possibility for proposals for dialogue," he insisted.

But he did not formally end the process. "He closed the door, but didn't slam it shut. He didn't say 'never again'," a government official said.

That faint optimism was echoed in the pro-Eta camp: "We have noted how careful he was with his words, he never spoke of a rupture," Karmelo Landa, a leader of the Batasuna party, said. "The process hasn't collapsed. On the contrary, we think it is very necessary now to address the roots of the conflict."

But it is difficult to imagine movement resuming any time soon: the government did not budge even on such matters as bringing Eta prisoners nearer home, or legalising the banned Batasuna party, let alone address wider political demands of radical Basque nationalism. The opposition Popular Party's (PP) leader, Mariano Rajoy, called upon the government yesterday to "break with Eta ... and fight all together against terrorism."

Rescue workers continued excavating yesterday for two Ecuadoreans buried beneath tons of rubble at the devastated carpark at Madrid's Terminal 4. The missing men were apparently taking a nap in their car when the huge bomb exploded following three telephone warnings, and destroyed the five-storey building. Explosives were packed into a Renault truck that Eta militants had stolen in France and parked at the airport carpark on Friday night, the government said. If the men are found dead, they would be Eta's first mortal victims in more than three years.

The government's attempt to prepare for talks with Eta was always hobbled by the PP which condemned any contact with armed separatists. Mr Zapatero tried to build cross-party consensus but was rebuffed. Parliament gave its blessing to the peace process on condition Eta gave up violence, with the PP voting against the proposal.