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(CNN) - The exhumation of the remains of former Spanish general dictator Francisco Franco began on Thursday.
The Spanish Government announced this week that it would move Franco's remains from the great mausoleum where he was buried in 1975 to the nearby Mingorrubio State Cemetery in El Pardo, 19 kilometers north of Madrid, where his wife is buried.
Despite the government's refusal to authorize two demonstrations, about 200 Franco supporters protested against a police blockade near the Mingorubian cemetery. People of all ages held flags and posters in Spanish that read "Franco, thank you!" And "National Unity."
The exhumation of Franco is an issue that has divided opinion in Spain for decades and occurs after a one-year legal battle between the provisional socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Franco's relatives.
The exhumation was one of Sanchez's key policy promises when he came to power last year and the incumbent Socialist Party made a royal decree in August 2018. Franco's family and his far-right supporters opposed the plan and the family unsuccessfully appealed the decision in court.
The presence of media representatives in the Basilica of the Fallen Valley was not allowed, but among those who witnessed the exhumation are the Minister of Justice of Spain, a forensic expert, a priest and 22 of Franco's descendants.
The dictator was under a 1,500 kg gravestone that covers the coffin, and is also enclosed in a zinc structure.