attack

Police confirm an anti-terrorist police operation is underway in this coastal town in Southern Catalonia and advice people to stay inside

Authorities confirm that neither of the two arrested suspects was the driver of the van

Two people have been arrested in connection with the incident

Early this morning, the Catalan police force (Mossos d’Esquadra) carried out an important anti-jihadist operation in six Catalan municipalities. There were 9 arrests in 12 major raids in Barcelona and the surrounding municipalities of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Cornellà, Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Ripollet, and Masquefa. The Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Jordi Jané, announced that some of the “arrests made today are in connection with the terrorist attacks in Brussels”. He added that there is no evidence of any planned attack in Catalonia. Jané highlighted the collaboration between the Catalan and Belgian police forces.

Catalonia will keep the terrorist threat level at 4 out of 5 but extra security measures will be put in place. Thus, ‘Mossos d’Esquadra’ will dedicate 30% of their resources to fighting terrorist threats, as they are currently doing, and increase this to 40% in Barcelona. The Catalan Police will also reinforce the anti-terrorist surveillance, especially in the most touristic places. The Spanish Police have already put in place extra security measures on the French border, at La Junquera, to control the traffic and will be stopping vehicles in random checks, asking for documentation and searching for suspicious materials in the boot. These measures are in response to the terrorist attack which killed 84 people in the French city of Nice this past Thursday night. 

The terrorist attack which killed 84 people on Thursday night in the French coastal city of Nice, while thousands were celebrating Bastille Day on the streets, has been responded to with international condolences. “Today we want to add Catalonia’s voice to those raised in many democratic countries, which respect freedom and religious and cultural diversity”, stated Catalan President, Carles Puigdemont and referred to Nice’s citizens as “neighbours and brothers”. “France’s mourning is also Catalonia’s”, he added and warned that the terrorists “won’t break [our] cohesion nor dispel the fraternity” towards the victims. Puigdemont’s statement came ahead of the one minute’s silence held on Barcelona’s Plaça Sant Jaume, the square between the Catalan Government’s headquarters and Barcelona’s City Hall.

Current Catalan President, Artur Mas, appeared this Tuesday before the media to comment on the recent control measures that Spain's executive have set in place to control Catalonia's finances. "We are facing an institutional attack" stated Mas "Spain's executive is punishing Catalonia for defending political ideas which are pacific, democratic and respectful of human rights". "This is really grave" he commented and added that "the EU should be worried" about the fact that "democratically elected parliaments and pacific social movements are being attacked". Mas considers the specific measures that Spain's government announced on Friday to control Catalonia's administration of their share of Spanish Liquidity Point (FLA) funds is a way of "taking over" Catalonia's autonomy and self-government "after years of cutting them back".

The highest-ranked officer of the Catalan Government's Police Force Mossos d'Esquadra, Chief Josep Lluís Trapero, has accused the Spanish Police Force of not sharing important information that affects Catalonia's security. Despite the Mossos d'Esquadra force being in charge of the main police tasks for Catalonia, it does not have access to relevant intelligence that the Spanish Police receives from international organisations and foreign police corps. Trapero emphasised that the Catalan Police has international level powers since 2006 and therefore is legally entitled to receive such information. However, the Spanish Police always keeps it for itself, which "makes our work more difficult", complained Trapero, and thus diminishes Catalonia's overall security.

The Catalan Police Force, Mossos d'Esquadra, detained on Wednesday in several cities across Greater Barcelona 11 people who were allegedly forming an Islamic terrorist cell. The cell was "operational" and "wanted to attack in Catalonia", according to the Catalan Minister for Home Affairs, Ramon Espadaler. The alleged terrorists were "clearly connected to the Islamic State" and "supported its ideology", emphasised Espadaler. The cell "had 3 objectives": "recruiting young people and radicalising them", "sending some of these young people to Syria and Iraq", and preparing an attack in Catalonia. Despite this information, Espadaler highlighted that "at no time has this cell generated any kind of danger, as it has been under investigation and police surveillance for the last 13 months".

The terrorist attack in Tunis' Bardo National Museum that took place on Wednesday killed 23 people, 20 tourists and 3 locals, and injured more than 40. Among the fatalities there was an elderly couple from Barcelona, who were celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary. Antoni Cirera, aged 75, and Dolors Sánchez, aged 73, were given a cruise trip by their children to celebrate the special occasion. Their family is already on their way to the North African country. Neighbours preferred not to talk to the press out of respect for the family. The Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council have expressed "a fervent repulsion" to the attack and have paid tribute to the victims in Sant Jaume Square on Thursday. In addition, the Spanish PM, Mariano Rajoy, expressed his sorrow "for the Cirera-Sánchez family" and announced that members of the Spanish Police specialised in counter-terrorism have travelled to Tunisia.

Barcelona’s Hospital Clínic has installed the ‘Micra’ 24mm pacemaker - equivalent to the size of a one euro coin -  in 4 patients as part of a clinical trial involving 10 medical centres and 60 patients troughout the world. This innovative wireless system is minimally invasive since it does not require any surgical procedure but is implanted in the heart through the femoral vein using a catheter. Such a procedure can be performed within 30 minutes and also reduces the patients’ risks of future infections. According to the Medical Director of the Hospital, Josep Brugada, if the clinical study is successful, it will involve a “paradigm shift”. Experts estimate it could reach hospitals within the next two or three years.

According to experiments tested on mice, Catalan scientists have affirmed that the stem cells located in the human umbilical chord, which are multipotential and therefore can become different types of cells, can be used to regenerate the tissue affected by a heart attack or a stroke. Until now the only way to recover the damaged tissue was through pharmacological treatment or a heart transplant.