13-M: Multitudes on line

mobile phones and the Internet appears to have weakened the control of information by the Spanish government. Vı́ctor Sampe-dro, a leading figure in Spanish political com-munication, has now edited a collection of 12 research articles on the so-called night of cell phones, March 13, when nearly 20,000 Spaniards gathered at the local headquarters of the ruling conservative People’s Party (PP), demanding to know—before the next day’s general elections—who was responsible for the attacks. Short text messages (SMS) and posts on antiwar and antiglobalization Inter-net portals notified thousands of citizens, who peacefully assembled at PP headquar-ters all over the country. The crowds com-plained about government attempts to blame the Basque organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuda (ETA) for the bombings, when all the evidence pointed to Islamist groups linked to Al-Qaeda. The protesters accused the ruling party of deceiving the public in an effort to hold onto its majority in parliament. The commuter train attacks injured 1,500 and killed 192 people 3 days before the general elections. The PP had a good record of fight-ing the local violence of Basque separatists and enjoyed popular support on the issue