# Terrorist attack in Barcelona **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 17, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879 "2017-08-17T16:50:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/41 "2017-08-17T20:32:29Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > I oughta remember it well, I was in college in Barcelona at the time and it’s what made A Certain Kind Of Moron switch from responding to “and she’s from Navarre” with Basquist slogans to trying to assault me calling me a murderer. That kind of experience (both sides of it) makes one very wary of huge brushes. Now I feel curious… you can SMS me or send me a WhatsApp with the details of the incident! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/42 "2017-08-17T20:45:01Z")
The first would be along the lines of person introducing me: … from Navarre moron: Nafarroa Euskadi da! (Navarre belongs to Euskadi) me: uh, in order, that doesn’t mean hello, where I come from we normally say “hello” before we start on politics, but since you did I happen to actually disagree with it moron: proceeds to call me a traitor to my foreparents (which, the Catalan ones? The Italian ones? The one who was one of the signataries of the treaty by which the Kingdoms of Castille and Navarre merged into the Kingdom of Spain?) and to praise the virtues of the Basque Freedom Fighters (who wanted me and my whole family dead, in fact anybody whose lastname is automatically identified as “Old Pamplona”, but hey, I was the one being mean to them) after: person introducing me: … from Navarre moron: murderer! _proceeds to assault me, thankfully quite sloppily_ After two such incidents I asked people to kindly not mention where was I from when they introduced me. In both incidents the people I was supposed to be with just stood around going “oh, oh, oh” and I was helped by Some Dudes who just happened to be there but who also happened to be real human beings, with spines and everything. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/43 "2017-08-17T20:46:17Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > So I’m going to be taking a trip to Barcelona in less than a month, staying pretty much just off Las Ramblas. While I knew something like this could obviously happen, this is a pretty sobering experience. I’m not planning on making any changes to my trip just yet, but I’ll have to wait and see what happens. do not drop Las Ramblas, it will be in fact safer in the weeks after from the security and it is not to be avoided in any case. I was in Barcelona only weeks ago and in the area, I will go back without any hesitation in some weeks. No bending before these DAESH scum losers. ---
**Author:** ![Grestarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grestarian/32/3227_2.png) [@Grestarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grestarian)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/44 "2017-08-17T20:48:08Z")
JoseB and Nava, where are you guys in relation to the attack site(s)? Ground zero? Hundreds of miles away? Relatively safe, at least? –G? ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/45 "2017-08-17T20:50:17Z")
Back to the subject of the thread, live press conference of the Catalan secretary of interior: officially, there are now 13 dead and more than 100 wounded. He is mentioning the grim process of identifying the victims. Not yet known how many are Spanish, how many are foreigners. He is saying that the information will be released in public only after having contacted the next-of-kin of the victims. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/46 "2017-08-17T20:50:32Z")
I’m about 400km away (off work this week, visiting at Mom’s), going back to Barcelona on Saturday. We believe our relatives there are ok; Mom tried calling her sister and got no response, but they’re both pretty bad about cellphones. > [@JoseB](#): > > He is saying that the information will be released in public only after having contacted the next-of-kin of the victims. Which is standard procedure and the contact is done in person unless impossible. If a relative dies in a traffic accident for example, you don’t get a phone call, you get a visit from a couple of cops. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/47 "2017-08-17T20:53:04Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > TVE reports that the two agents who were run over by the terrorist in a police control point were not seriously hurt. Their companions shot and killed the terrorist as he tried to drive away. > > That means there were at least three terrorists involved. It was already rather likely that this was no “lone wolf” act (several things were pointing to it), but this seems to confirm that it was an organized cell. Probably but so often these early reports blow up the affaire in the numbers involved. the criminal fringe where the disaffected haragine live provides a reservoir. The suspect Driss Oukabir, by his name would seem to be a mountain atlas origin, not arab (of course it is hoped that the name that has been released is not someone who gets caught up by mistake and has his life ruined) ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/48 "2017-08-17T20:57:53Z")
I live far away (\>1000 miles away), but I was in Barcelona not long ago for surgery, and I have a metric fuckton of friends there. I have been busy the whole day getting in touch with people. A very good friend of mine (I have known him for more than 30 years already), who actually hosted me in his own home for about a week after my discharge from hospital (I had to stay in Barcelona until I was well enough to go to my sister’s home in another city for the rest of my recovery) was caught in the chaos. He is OK, but he was a witness to the event. He was very close to where the van ended its rampage, and he was in the zone where the driver ran into. > [@Ramira](#): > > Probably but so often these early reports blow up the affaire in the numbers involved. The head of police is giving a press conference live right now. He has confirmed officially 2 individuals arrested and 1 shot dead. > [@Ramira](#): > > Probably but so often these early reports blow up the affaire in the numbers involved. the criminal fringe where the disaffected haragine live provides a reservoir. The suspect Driss Oukabir, by his name would seem to be a mountain atlas origin, not arab (of course it is hoped that the name that has been released is not someone who gets caught up by mistake and has his life ruined) [/QUOTE] Driss Oukabir is one of the two individuals under arrest. Born in Marseilles, legal resident of Spain for quite some time already, history of petty crime (and a criminal record involving domestic violence). The other individual arrested was born in Melilla (Spanish city in North Africa). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/49 "2017-08-17T21:02:21Z")
Going to bed now, it’s way past my usual bedtime. Be nice to each other, ok? ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/50 "2017-08-17T21:04:30Z")
Missed edit window: The dead guy was a Spanish national. The chief of police said this literally 30 seconds ago in the press conference. The people involved in this thing had no previous history of terrorism, according to the chief of police. Only petty crime in their historial. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/51 "2017-08-17T21:11:10Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > “Arroyo” is Spanish, and the term is only used in the West in the US, and even then most people don’t know what it means-- you’re most likely to see it an a street name, like “Arroyo Grande” or something. You might use the term “wash” if you wanted an English word, but even then, I think many people would not what that was. > > This new terror tactic is just horrible. So easy to do, and so easy to injure or kill people. Not intending to take anything away from the horror of another cheap yet effective terrorist attack, I will admit to laughing a little with Nava calling an arroyo American English. Agreed, Western and Southwestern US only, and I live in a town full of arroyos, all of which have their own names. Almost all have been channelized with concrete and combined into a massive drainage system to dump water into the Rio Grande. The idea of building a street in one blows my mind. This sucks. Cheap, effective, and points out the uselessness of most “security”. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/52 "2017-08-17T21:19:11Z")
As an American with some recent experience in this sort of event, permit me to extend a heartfelt goddammit. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/53 "2017-08-17T21:21:54Z")
BREAKING NEWS – last night there was an explosion in a house in a village (Alcanar) 200 km south of Barcelona. One dead, several wounded, and the house totally demolished. Initially the police and firefighters thought that it was an accidental gas explosion. **The chief of police has just announced that, in fact, that explosion was related to the attack today in Barcelona**. The guy from Melilla was arrested in Alcanar. It seems that the explosion was accidental, perhaps in a clandestine bomb-making workshop, but this is not confirmed yet. When there is more information I will pass it on. > [@Sailboat](#): > > As an American with some recent experience in this sort of event, permit me to extend a heartfelt goddammit. Thanks, **Sailboat**. Hope your wife gets well soon!! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/54 "2017-08-17T21:24:41Z")
_hug Sailboat_ Asterion, bless your heart. That, too, is American English. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/55 "2017-08-17T21:26:46Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > BREAKING NEWS – last night there was an explosion in a house in a village (Alcanar) 200 km south of Barcelona. One dead, several wounded, and the house totally demolished. > > Initially the police and firefighters thought that it was an accidental gas explosion. **The chief of police has just announced that, in fact, that explosion was related to the attack today in Barcelona**. > > The guy from Melilla was arrested in Alcanar. > > It seems that the explosion was accidental, perhaps in a clandestine bomb-making workshop, but this is not confirmed yet. > > When there is more information I will pass it on. Oh. Whoa. And me assuming it was just a bunch of squatters trying to cook drugs. So the bastards wanted to load the van with homemade butane gas bombs and blow up the Ramblas, and when the explosion happened, they went for plan B? Jesus. It could have been so much worse, then. ---
**Author:** ![Ramira](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ramira/32/344_2.png) [@Ramira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ramira)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/56 "2017-08-17T21:33:52Z")
> [@JoseB](#): > > Driss Oukabir is one of the two individuals under arrest. Born in Marseilles, legal resident of Spain for quite some time already, history of petty crime (and a criminal record involving domestic violence). The other individual arrested was born in Melilla (Spanish city in North Africa). The information is confused. The French news is more precise in saying the suspect person is of the French nationalité but he is born in Morocco, and was resident in Marseille. > [@](#): > > Un homme portant ce nom avait posté sur sa page Facebook, consultée par l’AFP avant qu’elle ne devienne inaccessible vers 21 heures, des photos le montrant sur la plage, d’autres devant un miroir, et une image du drapeau berbère, peuple présent notamment au Maroc et en Algérie. It says the Facebook of a person of this name showed the images on the beach, and with the Berber flag, usually presented by the Berber nationalists - his family name is very amazight so this makes sense. It is not very typical for the Berberistes to also be inclined to the Takfitir Salafisme of the DAESH. It is also in the French reports that the person himself has presented himself to the police and the actual suspect might be his little brother. Melilla of course is the enclave on the coast of the Morocco… ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/57 "2017-08-17T21:34:12Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > Oh. Whoa. And me assuming it was just a bunch of squatters trying to cook drugs. > > So the bastards wanted to load the van with homemade butane gas bombs and blow up the Ramblas, and when the explosion happened, they went for plan B? Jesus. It could have been so much worse, then. If that is the case, thank God for small favors. It would have been potentially apocalyptic. The investigation involves now 4 places: Barcelona, Alcanar (200 km south from Barcelona), Vic (70 km north of Barcelona), and Ripoll (still more to the north). The whole thing seems to be shaping up to be a wide net. Seems like there really was a cell, and it might have been bigger than expected. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/58 "2017-08-17T21:38:10Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > _hug Sailboat_ > > Asterion, bless your heart. That, too, is American English. Hey, I speak Southern too. And I’m sorry in that this wasn’t the time for a comment about a little bit of levity in reading a post. No pedantism or making light of the situation is intended. I really am sorry for everyone affected. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/59 "2017-08-17T21:39:13Z")
Some details about the victims. Three of the dead are German… and 5 of the dead are children. \>.\< The Spanish Prime Minister is expected to give a press conference in Barcelona any moment now. He appears to have landed a while ago. ---
**Author:** ![JoseB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/joseb/32/1530_2.png) [@JoseB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseB)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2017, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879/60 "2017-08-17T21:50:18Z")
And a slight heartwarming detail in the middle of this horrid mess: taxi drivers are offering their services for free during this evening to help people go home, given that a lot of the public transport has been suspended. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/terrorist-attack-in-barcelona/793879.md?page=4)