23-F

23-F is the name given to an attempted coup d'état in Spain that began on 23 February 1981 and ended the following day. Its most visible figure, Antonio Tejero, led the failed coup's most notable event: a group of 200 armed officers of the Guardia Civil burst into the Spanish Congress of Deputies during the vote to elect Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo as the country's new Prime Minister. King Juan Carlos I gave a nationally televised address where he denounced the coup, called for the rule of law to be upheld and for the democratically elected government to continue in place. The coup soon collapsed. After holding the Parliament and cabinet hostage for 18 hours the hostage-takers surrendered the next morning without having harmed anyone.