More than half a million people marched through the streets of Barcelona on Saturday to protest against terrorism.
The coordinated attacks on Las Ramblas, Barcelona, and Cambrils were Spain’s deadliest Islamist terror attacks since the Madrid train bombings in 2004 committed by an al-Qaeda terror cell.
Marchers carried a street-wide banner with black capital letters reading “No Tinc Por” (which means “I’m not afraid” in Catalan) in solidarity with the victims of the August 17-18 vehicle attacks, which were later claimed by Islamic State.
Another fatality was announced Sunday as a German woman wounded in Barcelona succumbed to her injuries, leaving 16 dead and over 150 injured.
Emergency workers, taxis drivers, police, and citizens who helped immediately after the Las Ramblas attack led the march, and in gratitude, marchers strew their vehicles with flowers.
In a precedent for a Spanish monarch, King Felipe VI joined the demonstration along with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and other Spanish and Catalan regional officials.
However, some Spaniards jeered as the monarch walked by and held banners condemning the king’s role in promoting military exports to Saudi Arabia – the Gulf nation being an alleged supporter of terrorism.
It was later found that an explosion at a house in Alcanar on Wednesday 16th was not a domestic accident, as initially believed, but the result of an unintended pre-detonation at the terror cell’s bomb factory. It is believed had the cell succeeded in making the devices, hundreds more would have been injured or killed.
Eight suspects are dead, including the driver involved in the Las Ramblas ramming attack Younes Abouyaaqoub. Two jihadists have been jailed under preliminary charges of terrorism and homicide. Two others were freed, but will remain under investigation.
Breitbart London reported that Catalonia has been described as a “nest of radical Salafism”, with 80 of the 100 Islamic centres linked to jihadism in Spain being located in the commune alone.
Last week, Islamic State terrorists released a video celebrating the van attacks and threatening to conquer all of “al-Andalus”, the Arabic name for what Islamic State terrorists see as Muslim Spain.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
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