Definition of 1977 atocha massacre

The 1977 Massacre of Atocha was a neo-fascist attack during the Spanish transition to democracy after Franco's death in 1975, killing five and injuring four. It was committed on January 24, 1977 in an office located on 77 Atocha Street near Atocha railway station in Madrid, where specialists of labor law, members of the Workers' Commissions trade union (CCOO), and of the then clandestine Communist Party of Spain (PCE), had gathered. The next day, the massacre was revindicated by a group calling itself Alianza Apostólica Anticomunista (Triple A or AAA). The suspects arrested were close to Blas Piñar's Fuerza Nueva far-right party, the Falange-JONS fascist party and the Franco Guard. The indignation lifted by the killing accelerated the legalization of the Communist party, which took place in Easter 1977. On March 24, 1984, Italian daily Il Messaggero revealed that Italian neofascists had taken part in the shooting, pointing toward some kind of "Black International" .