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Barcelona attack: multiple deaths reported after van hits Las Ramblas crowd


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Barcelona: Van rams crowds in Ramblas tourist area

 

At least one person died and 32 were injured after a van ploughed into crowds in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas tourist area, police say.

The vehicle sped along the pedestrianised area, mowing down people and sending others fleeing for cover in shops and cafes.

Witnesses said the van had deliberately targeted people before coming to a stop.

Police are treating the incident as a terrorist attack.

Media reports said the driver of the vehicle had fled on foot.

Live updates

Tom Markwell from New Orleans, who was just arriving in a taxi in Las Ramblas, said: "I heard a crowd screaming. It sounded like they were screaming for a movie star.

"I saw the van. It had already been busted on the front. It was weaving left and right, trying to hit people as fast as possible. There were people lying on the ground."

Media captionFootage captures people using a shop as an escape route on Las Ramblas

Aamer Anwar said he was walking down Las Ramblas, which was "jam-packed" with tourists.

"All of a sudden, I just sort of heard a crashing noise and the whole street just started to run, screaming. I saw a woman right next to me screaming for her kids," he told Sky News.

"Police were very, very quickly there, police officers with guns, batons, everywhere. Then the whole street started getting pushed back.

"Police officers who got there just started screaming at people to move back, move back."

Vehicles have been used to ram into crowds in a series of attacks across Europe since July last year.

Barcelona map

Las Ramblas

  • Central boulevard that runs 1.2km (0.75 miles) through the centre of Barcelona
  • Runs from the city's Plaça de Catalunya (Catalonia Square) to the Christopher Columbus monument at the seafront. 
  • Popular with tourists because of its market stalls, bars and restaurants
  • Barcelona city council restricted traffic flow because of heavy pedestrian use of the street

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40965581

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What a horrible attack.  All my friends from Barcelona are OK thanks God.  Thanks Kim for thinking of me.  

Those of you who have ever visited Barcelona know how packed is Ramblas street all day. It's horrible.  I have no words. 

 

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13 dead confirmed,  by the way. The terrorist is a French from Marseille.  Even though he's muslim and this is considered a terrorist attack by the Spanish police I smell that it's more a cause of "man radicalised really fast", which usually leads to mental problems.  The connection between ISIS and Spain and especially Barcelona is absurd. It's true that ISIS wants the Spanish territory to be Muslim again as it was 1000 years ago,  but our Muslim community is not precisely very radical and Barcelona is as random as was Cannes a couple of years ago.  It's true though that hundreds are being monitored by the police for risk of radicalisation. 

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26 minutes ago, karbatal said:

13 dead confirmed,  by the way. The terrorist is a French from Marseille.  Even though he's muslim and this is considered a terrorist attack by the Spanish police I smell that it's more a cause of "man radicalised really fast", which usually leads to mental problems.  The connection between ISIS and Spain and especially Barcelona is absurd. It's true that ISIS wants the Spanish territory to be Muslim again as it was 1000 years ago,  but our Muslim community is not precisely very radical. It's true though that hundreds are being monitored by the police for risk of radicalisation. 

Omg!!! I am so sorry for my beautiful Bcn!!! One of the most amazing cities in the world! So glad you are safe!

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40 minutes ago, karbatal said:

What a horrible attack.  All my friends from Barcelona are OK thanks God.  Thanks Kim for thinking of me.  

Those of you who have ever visited Barcelona know how packed is Ramblas street all day. It's horrible.  I have no words. 

 

Karbatal,  glad that you and your your friends are safe.   

Such a horrifying attack.  Innocent people being killed. Heart breaking, tragic loss of innocent lives.  So pointless, cowardly and barbaric. 

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Seriously fucked up. I couldn't believe what happened in Cambrils this morning when I heard it. Sad, fucked up times we're living in.

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Good to hear Spanish members are ok, I have a nice studying her masters degree and some long time friends in Barcelona but everything is fine. 

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the thing is that this is hardly a suprise, police has bveen saying for years that in catalunya there was a group of yihadists, and that it was difficult to control it because it´s the point were people that can be from the north of africa and people from middle europe can meet...anyways, we´ve been lucky. apparently their inttention was to  create a huge explotion, but they didn´t control them and they exploded at a house the day before, killing 7 people from another building...

when I go to barcelona I always stay near the ramblas, in aquite cheap place called poble seq, in the parallel, very near the ramblas. And for years it was as living in another country (not poble seq, but the houses between ramblas and poble seq).

hopefully we all act wiselly, although the journalists are braodcasting images and all the crap. Apparently some supermarkets have said that they weren´t going to sell some  newspapers with dead people´s pictures in the front (el mundo)

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Conspiracy theories point out the unusual fact that any day Las Ramblas look like this:

579d1d35e0b82.jpg

But those street sellers were nowhere to be found yesterday during the attack which is frankly unusual.

 

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On 8/17/2017 at 9:27 PM, karbatal said:

13 dead confirmed,  by the way. The terrorist is a French from Marseille.  Even though he's muslim and this is considered a terrorist attack by the Spanish police I smell that it's more a cause of "man radicalised really fast", which usually leads to mental problems.  The connection between ISIS and Spain and especially Barcelona is absurd. It's true that ISIS wants the Spanish territory to be Muslim again as it was 1000 years ago,  but our Muslim community is not precisely very radical and Barcelona is as random as was Cannes a couple of years ago.  It's true though that hundreds are being monitored by the police for risk of radicalisation. 

ISIS has claimed responsibility. Also there was an attack in Finland.

they have officially relocated from Iraq and Syria to Europe.

These are not mentally ill people. These are Muslim extremists. Don't make excuses for those scum.

 

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8 hours ago, Salman said:

ISIS has claimed responsibility. Also there was an attack in Finland.

they have officially relocated from Iraq and Syria to Europe.

These are not mentally ill people. These are Muslim extremists. Don't make excuses for those scum.

 

First of all,  my comment was made when there was little development. I stated afterwards that it was ISIS and things have changed.  

Secondly,  whenever there's a mentally ill person mirroring attacks,  that's something to study,  simply because governments can use that situation to induce fear in societies.  That's not making excuses. Your comment was uncalled for,  to be quite honest. 

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11 hours ago, Je5u5 said:

Conspiracy theories point out the unusual fact that any day Las Ramblas look like this:

579d1d35e0b82.jpg

But those street sellers were nowhere to be found yesterday during the attack which is frankly unusual.

 

That's not Ramblas in the picture.  There are different sellers in Ramblas because there's little place for them being so crowded with tourists.  That theory I feel is to make sellers,  most of them being from Morocco, in the know.  To spread hate. 

Whenever I've been in the Ramblas,  people selling are walking around.  

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15 hours ago, promise to try said:

the thing is that this is hardly a suprise, police has bveen saying for years that in catalunya there was a group of yihadists, and that it was difficult to control it because it´s the point were people that can be from the north of africa and people from middle europe can meet...anyways, we´ve been lucky. apparently their inttention was to  create a huge explotion, but they didn´t control them and they exploded at a house the day before, killing 7 people from another building...

when I go to barcelona I always stay near the ramblas, in aquite cheap place called poble seq, in the parallel, very near the ramblas. And for years it was as living in another country (not poble seq, but the houses between ramblas and poble seq).

hopefully we all act wiselly, although the journalists are braodcasting images and all the crap. Apparently some supermarkets have said that they weren´t going to sell some  newspapers with dead people´s pictures in the front (el mundo)

This attack is far different from others because it was very carefully planned and many people were involved.  It is really worrying. Thank God the Spanish police in really good at fighting terrorism, I am sure we're up for many detentions in the next weeks.  

 

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Just now, karbatal said:

This attack is far different from others because it was very carefully planned and many people were involved.  It is really worrying. Thank God the Spanish police in really good at fighting terrorism, I am sure we're up for many detentions in the next weeks.  

 

carefully planned, but very badly executed, thanks god!! they are saying that one of the ideas was to bomb the Sagrada familia!

 

and, I´m afraid but the different spanish polices were good at fighting certain type of terrorism: this yihadist terrorism behaves in a total different way.Some people on the TV love to say that spanish police are better than other polices fighting it...I fell is like saying that driving a Vespa and a Boing 747 is the same.If you are good driving one, you are good driving the other...I´m afraid not.if they want to fuck us, they will and police can´t do anything. Politicians on the other hand, solving all the shit that is happening in the middle east, can start solving this

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3 hours ago, karbatal said:

That's not Ramblas in the picture.  There are different sellers in Ramblas because there's little place for them being so crowded with tourists.  That theory I feel is to make sellers,  most of them being from Morocco, in the know.  To spread hate. 

Whenever I've been in the Ramblas,  people selling are walking around.  

1469896173078.jpgmanteros_xoptimizadax-kvJG--620x349@abc.

Sorry, just took the first image from Google Images. The ones above are definitely Las Ramblas though.

I agree the theory is covered in islamophobia.

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