Between May 10 and May 13, 1931, over one hundred convents and other religious buildings were burnt by anarchists and other extreme left anticlericalists in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

during riots that started in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

and spread throughout the country. On May 10, a right-wing group played a recording of the monarchist ''

Marcha Real The (; "Royal March") is the national anthem of Spain. It is one of only four national anthems in the world – along with those of Bosnia and Herzegovina, San Marino and Kosovo – that have no official lyrics. Although it had lyrics in the ...

'' 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. According to the canonical narrative

Manuel Azaña Manuel Azaña Díaz (; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the last President of the Repu ...

allegedly stated that "all the convents of Spain are not worth the life of a single Republican".

References

{{reflist 1931 in Spain Second Spanish Republic 1931 riots May 1931 events Anti-Catholicism