From terror to solidarity

The silence is what victims and members of the emergency services remember most about that evening of August 17 last year, after the terror attack when a van ran over hundreds of people on La Rambla. The next day, the seaside town of Cambrils came under attack, with one woman killed before five terrorists aiming to hurt more people were shot down by police. Catalan society was shocked to discover that the perpetrators were a group of eight young men of Moroccan origin from Ripoll. The investigation remains open with a number of questions still to be answered, such as whether the group received foreign support.

As soon as the van attack took place on La Rambla, people flocked to help, while doctors, psychologists and police officers cut short their holidays to offer aid to the victims or hunt down the killers. The van driver, Younes Abouyaaqoub, managed to flee the scene, killing Pau Pérez for his car in the process and escape the city. Police found and shot him four days later.

Hours after the incident, investigators linked an explosion in a house in Alcanar with the group and investigators discovered that the Barcelona and Cambrils attacks were in fact improvised plan Bs after the explosion in Alcanar deprived the group of up to 500 kilos of explosives to be used against a major landmark like the Sagrada Familia.

Among the ruins in Alcanar, police found the body of Abdelabaki Es Satty, the imam in Ripoll thought to be the one who radicalised the young men and who masterminded the attacks. Es Satty, who had spent time in prison on drug trafficking charges, met Spanish intelligence, although the extent of that relationship remains unclear.