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 BBC's Flora Botsford in Madrid"The death has shocked the country"  real 28k The BBC's Flora Botsford"The attack was bloody as it was swift"  real 28k |
It was the first time the Spanish monarch had made such a gesture, a spokesman for the royal family said.
Jose Luis Lopez de la Calle, a political commentator for the daily El Mundo, was shot four times on Sunday outside his house in Andoain, a suburb of San Sebastian.
 The journalist had already received threats
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The killing was attributed to the Basque separatist group ETA, which ended a 14-month-long ceasefire late last year.
Mr Lopez de la Calle's funeral took place on Monday evening.
Silent crowds
For 15 minutes beginning at noon, crowds gathered in silence outside public buildings in Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Seville and other towns.
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Town halls across Spain and parliamentary deputies and senators in Madrid also paid silent tribute to the 62-year-old journalist.
He was a regular contributor to Spain's El Mundo newspaper, which is known for its strong support of the government in the fight against ETA.
Early Basque elections
Prime Minister Jose-Maria Aznar called for early regional elections in the Basque country on Monday, saying it was time for the Basques to "choose between democracy and nationalism".
 The journalist's family at the funeral
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Mr Aznar accused certain nationalist leaders of "leading their party to the edge of the cliff, and suicide, dragging the Basque population with them".
Speaking during a visit to Morocco, he condemned the killing of Mr Lopez de la Calle as a "cowardly assassination".
It was also strongly condemned by the European Union, international journalists' associations, Spanish union leaders and politicians.
Spain's El Pais newspaper said it marked "a brutal intensification of the campaign of fear and persecution against all those that ETA considers enemies".
A former communist who served five years in prison for his left-wing convictions during General Franco's dictatorship, Mr Lopez de la Calle was believed to have earned the enmity of Basque extremists for his weekly column Fog And Light, and for urging peaceful dialogue.
He is the fourth person killed in attacks attributed to ETA this year.
Media role
 The Basque regional government joined the silent protest
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Arnaldo Otegi, a spokesman for the pro-ETA Basque electoral platform Euskal Herritarrok, said ETA probably wanted to draw attention to the role of the media in the Basque conflict.
He said certain media professionals were "pursuing a reporting strategy of manipulation and war in the conflict between the Greater Basque Country and the state".
But the Spanish Interior Minister, Jaime Mayor Oreja, accused those behind the shooting of being "totalitarians who don't believe in any way in peace and freedom."
Basque regional President Juan Jose Ibarretxe said it was "devastating and disheartening" to see Basque hopes for peace dashed.
ETA killed an army officer and a Socialist politician and his bodyguard in separate car bombings earlier this year.
Those attacks followed ETA's announcement that it was ending its longest-ever ceasefire and resuming the fight for a separate state carved out of northern Spain and southern France.
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