Dictator Franco's head replica rolls on football pitch in Spanish art festival

MOIA, Spain (Reuters) -Spanish artist Eugenio Merino and a U.S. art collective used a lifelike replica of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco's head as a football at an art festival to warn of the dangers of fascism amid the rise of the far right in Europe and the United States. 

The performance formed part of the Ex Abrupto festival near the town of Moia, about 60 km (37 miles) north of Barcelona, where intense fighting occurred in 1939 during the Spanish Civil War. 

A representative from the U.S. collective INDECLINE, who did not want to be identified, said the act aimed to remind people about the history of fascism in Europe and the risks posed by the rise of the far right in many countries in Europe and the United States.

"Without addressing these issues and addressing history you don't really have a context of what you are really walking into," he said.

Franco ruled Spain with an iron fist for almost four decades until his death in 1975 after his fascist forces defeated the leftist Republicans in the 1936-39 Civil War.

Artist Eugenio Merino, 50, who created the rubber replica, said the game he had dubbed "Kick Franco's Head" was to mark the 50th anniversary since the dictator's death.

Merino has previously used Franco's likeness as a punching bag or has displayed it in a fridge. Those works from the early 2010s led to several defamation lawsuits against him, but the courts threw them out in 2015. 

The short game, played by 22 performers, featured frequent shouts of "No pasaran!" – a Republican slogan meaning "they (fascists) will not pass".

(Writing by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Sharon Singleton)