PAMPLONA, Spain Several thousand people massed on Thursday evening in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona in a last tribute to Tomas Caballero, a local conservative politician gunned down by suspected Basque separatists. The crowd gathered in silence at 08:00 P.M. Several hours after the funeral of the 62-year-old politician, slain on Wednesday as he was getting into his car in central Pamplona. Earlier, several hundred people attended the funeral mass in Pamplona Cathedral including four ministers Deputy Government Chief Francisco Alvarez Cascos, Rodrigo Rato (economy), Jaime Mayor Oreja (interior) and Jose Manuel Romay Beccaria (health).

Later thousands lined the route of a funeral procession, one kilometer which escorted the coffin to the San Jose Cemetery where Caballero a member of the Union of the People of Navarre an ally of Spain's ruling popular party was buried. Workers in Pamplona downed tools for half an hour at the behest of the unions as a sign of mourning and in protest at political violence.

More than 2,000 people signed the book of condolences and the Caballero family said they had received hundreds of telegrams. People in other towns in Spain also mobilized to protect this latest killing attributed to the Basque ETA Separatist Movement the fifth murder of a conservative elected official in the past 10 months. In Madrid, 2,000 people assembled chanting Now Is Enough. We Want Peace. Other gatherings took place in Sevilla, Barcelona, Valladolid and San Sebasian. (AFP)