Ripoll to remember terror attacks with day devoted to diversity

Ripoll, the hometown of the terrorists who committed last summer’s attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, is to commemorate the first anniversary of the tragic events with a day of workshops on coexistence and cultural diversity, on August 16.

The quiet town in the Girona region of Catalonia was shaken to discover that the young men who carried out the terror attacks were from Ripoll, while the head of the jihadi cell, Abdelbaki Es Satty, was the town’s imam.

Yet Ripoll mayor Jordi Munell insisted on Thursday that the town was not planning “a sad event,” but rather one that highlights the work being done to build a “better society,” based on such values as equality and respect for diversity.

The day of workshops, which will be open to the public, will be followed on August 17 by a commemorative event in Barcelona, and another event to remember the victims on August 18 in Cambrils. Transport will be provided for Ripoll residents wanting to attend the events.

Ending prejudice “a long task,” says Ripoll mayor

Speaking about the work done in Ripoll to cope with the fallout from the attacks, Munell said: “It is a long task, which will not be completed in a year or two, and one that requires the social engagement of different players.” The mayor admitted there is still lots of work to be done to put an end to “prejudice.”

As for the Catalan minister for equality, migration, and citizenry, Oriol Amorós, he said last August’s terror attacks had acted as “a wake-up call” that challenged the country’s ideas of integration. The young men who were radicalized “met all the conditions to feel like members of the community,” he said.

Amorós pointed out that experts now argue for a new model of coexistence focused on the individual’s sense of “belonging” by working on equality of opportunity and recognition of diversity. For Munell, this work has already begun in Ripoll, which he described as a “laboratory” from which other places in Catalonia can learn.