Officials and relatives pay tribute to Rambla terror attack victims

Officials, victims and relatives have paid tribute to the victims of the 17 August 2017 terror attack, in which 16 people lost their lives, in an austere and emotional ceremony on the Ramblas. Relatives of the victims, followed by government officials, laid white carnations on the spot where Younes Abouyaaqoub ran over his victimes. Pau Casals' El cant dels ocells was played and a minute's silence was observed.

A large number of Spanish and Catalan Government representatives were in attendance, including several ministers and Catalan president Pere Aragonès. Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, was also in attendance.

The tribute comes shortly after the perpetrators were sentenced. Only yesterday UAVAT, an association of victims, reported it has not managed to make contact with 150 of the 345 victims the sentence recognises. Meanwhile, a report by the General Directorate of Support for Victims of Terrorism to which Efe has had access, points that the Spanish Ministry of the Interior has paid €7.2m to the victims of the attacks in Catalonia in 2017, after processing practically all (99.17%) of the 607 open files on compensation, of which 53.67% were accepted. The others were rejected as it was not considered proven that they were there when the attacks occurred or that they have suffered psychological harm.

On the other hand, the Catalan Association of Victims of Terrorist Organisations (ACVOT), which has not participated in the main tribute, has asked the authorities for more "empathy" in an alternative event in memory of the victims. The association laid a wreath in memory of the victims and kept a minute's silence. Dozens of people have gathered at the point where the tribute was made, which was also attended by members of different police forces, as well as representatives of political parties such as PP or Cs. ACVOT denabded "memory and dignity" for the victims, and recalled that the "only ones responsible" are the terrorists.

Cambrils calls for "working for harmony"

The City Council of Cambrils has called for work from all fronts "to extend the harmony, dignity and tolerance among people," in a manifesto made public on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, ACN reports. The Town Council also defends "the responsible and civic attitude of society to exclude any kind of violence". "No kind of violence has nor will have a place in Cambrils or anywhere else if it finds a mature and united society, to deal with all attacks on coexistence, all abuses against people, all faces and all possible manifestations of hatred," the document states.

"It has been four years since an unexpected terror atrociously filled the night in Cambrils. The fury and the intense hatred with which these violent attackers acted took the town by surprise, a town that is peaceful and open to the world, where all origins and all cultures coexist without conflict. It was a dark and hard night, which we will never forget", the text reads. "Today Cambrils has a sad memory of that night but many reasons to value life," it adds. The manifesto also remembers "all the victims" and sends "a fraternal embrace to their families". At the same time, it recalls that the courts have ruled on the case and that "memory has been preserved". "We look to the future with hope and continue working on all fronts, individually and collectively, to extend and strengthen harmony, dignity and tolerance among people, the values that mark the path to a fairer, more egalitarian and freer society," the manifesto ends.