All public sector employees are to participate today in a European Union-wide gesture of solidarity with the Spanish people after Thursday's horrific terrorist attacks in Madrid, after a government decision on Saturday.

Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos summoned all civil servants and public sector employees to join in three minutes' silence at 2 p.m. «to honor the innocent victims of the abominable terrorist attack of March 11 in Madrid, and in a symbolic condemnation of terrorism as a vile act against humanity.»

Pavlopoulos also expressed a desire for private-sector employees and employers to join in the gesture of respect for the 200 people killed in the railway blasts, in which 1,500 were injured. Three minutes' silence will also be held in Cyprus at 1 p.m.

Government spokesman Theodoros Roussopoulos said Greeks will «join in the mourning of the Spanish people.» Foreign Minister Petros Molyviatis visited Spanish Ambassador Eduardo Junco Bonet on Saturday to express condemnation of the attack.

Greeks and Spanish expatriates lit candles outside the Spanish Embassy on Friday.