Anthony Freda
Eye Witness Account of Terrorist Attack & Aftermath
My family and I happen to be staying in Barcelona when the Las Ramblas attacks occurred, two blocks from our hotel. We are fine and things are calm here now.
An Islamist fanatic plowed a van into crowds of innocent pedestrians killing 13 and maiming a hundred. The subsequent manhunt extended to our hotel where a panic mysteriously broke out sending people running and screaming into the hotel, resulting in several injuries.
Red Cross, police and other tourists who could not return to their hotels swarmed our lobby.
Yesterday, we went to the site of the attack and were met with mobs of reporters, tourists, protestors and riot police.
There were two very vocal factions of demonstrators. One group was mainly Catalonian nationalists who held up signs reading “Stop the Islamification of Europe” and waved Catalonian flags.
The other group were pro-Muslim immigration and waved gay pride flags. The contrast between the peaceful memorials set up and the loud and angry mobs protesting at the same time was stark. The only force preventing this clash from becoming violent was the police who managed to successfully act as a barrier between the two groups, like they are supposed to. U.S. police could learn a lot from the Spanish.
