Burning of convents in Spain (1931)


Between May 10 and May 13, 1931, over one hundred convents and other religious buildings were burnt by anarchists and the extreme Republican Left in Spain during riots that started in Madrid and spread throughout the country Objects of great cultural and artistic value were destroyed, some convent cemeteries were vandalized and several persons killed and injured.
In May 10, a right-wing group played a recording of the monarchist Marcha Real by an open window in the Calle de Alcalá while a large crowd were returning from the Buen Retiro Park. Some members of the crowd were enraged, and protests the following day swept across Spain. While some members of the new government of the Spanish Republic wanted to restore order, others in the cabinet resisted, with Manuel Azaña saying "all the convents of Spain are not worth the life of a single Republican, if the Guardia Civil is deployed, I resign.".