Barcelona and Cambrils held memorial events marking the eighth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of August 17, 2017. Sixteen people were killed and more than 300 were injured or suffered psychological trauma in the attacks. On this day, relatives of the victims, survivors, officials, and members of the public gathered on La Rambla to honor the memory of those lost in the tragedy.
Survivors once again stressed the need to establish a dedicated service in Catalonia to provide support and protect their rights. This initiative has been under discussion for several years, but has yet to be implemented. Representatives of the victims’ association expressed hope that the issue of opening the office would be resolved in the next two months. A meeting with Catalonia’s Interior Minister, Núria Parlon, is scheduled for September to discuss the details of launching the service.
Previously, in 2010, a similar office existed in Catalonia, but it was closed two years later due to budget cuts. Since then, the region has been left without its own system for supporting terrorism victims, even though Catalonia ranks second in Spain in terms of the number of people affected. Similar structures are already in operation in other autonomous communities, which survivors’ representatives find perplexing.
The lack of a specialized service had a negative impact on support for the victims of the 2017 terrorist attacks. Many of them did not receive timely information about their rights or available forms of assistance. In recent years, this issue has been addressed by a civic organization that independently contacted the victims and provided them with necessary support.
At the memorial event on La Rambla, those present included the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa; Catalonia’s Interior Minister, Núria Parlón; Parliament Speaker, Josep Rull; the Spanish government’s representative in Catalonia, Carlos Prieto; and Barcelona’s Mayor, Jaume Collboni. After a minute of silence, participants laid flowers at the memorial accompanied by the music of ‘El cant dels ocells’.
The front rows of the ceremony were occupied by the relatives of the victims and survivors, followed by officials, municipal representatives, and police chiefs. Behind the barriers, a group of about one hundred people with Catalan flags gathered, demanding full disclosure of the circumstances of the attack and confronting the Spanish authorities with accusations.
The victims are also awaiting the findings of a parliamentary commission that is expected to address questions left unanswered after the trial. The National Court previously acknowledged that the victims of the attack were insufficiently protected and informed during the investigation.
In 2017, the attacks were carried out by a group of nine young men and one adult, the imam of Ripoll, Abdelbaki es Satty, who, according to investigators, had links with Spanish intelligence. He radicalized the group members and convinced them of the need to carry out the attack. On the evening of August 17, Younes Abouyaaqoub drove a rented van into a crowd on La Rambla, and later his accomplices attacked people on the Cambrils promenade. All the attackers were killed by the police.
Today, the victims and their families continue to fight for their rights, waiting for the Catalan authorities to finally establish a permanent support service to help them cope with the consequences of the tragedy.
