Mourning: black ribbons, white gloves

"Black ribbons and white palms are two common elements in all the shrines and demonstrations. The white palms stand for fighting terrorism with peace. It has become a national symbol in Spain in the fight against terrorism. A group of law students at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid first adopted the gesture of painting the palms of their hands white or wearing white gloves to signify the hands of people who want peace as opposed to the bloody hands of terrorists."

Sánchez-Carretero, Cristina (2006), Trains of Workers, Trains of Death: Some Reflections after the March 11th Attacks in Madrid, in Santino, Jack (ed), Spontaneous Shrines and the Public Memorialization of Death, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, p.341