Santander, Spain - The northern Spanish city of Santander on Thursday began removing a statue of General Francisco Franco, the last remaining one of the 1939-75 dictator on horseback which remained in a public place.

Under the 2007 Law of Historic Memory seeking to restore the honour of Franco's victims, tributes to the dictatorship have to be removed.

The Santander authorities said the statue would be placed in a future history museum.

The Association for the Recovery of Historic Memory (ARMH) representing Franco's victims welcomed the removal of the statue.

However, it complained that the conservative city authorities also took away a coat of arms of the Second Republic, which was toppled by Franco's military uprising that led to the 1936-39 civil war.

The only Spanish location to still have a Franco statue in a public place is the north African enclave of Melilla. Its authorities have promised to remove the statue, which shows the dictator without a horse.

Many Spanish streets and squares, however, are still named after the dictator or his collaborators. (dpa)