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Van being driven by a man intentionally hits pedestrians- Ramblas in Barcelona: at least 13 dead, 50 injured. 2nd man in van attempt thwarted. It's te (1 Viewer)

seems all the places I have visited have this type of violence now.  makes it a bit scarier for me nowadays.  las ramblas is really for pedestrians IMO.  big open walkways lined with trees and kiosks and vendors on the way to the boqueria.  I know this is no time to joke around and I say this as innocently as possible, but if they took out a couple of those mime type beggars that are painted in silver and gold, well...........

spain seems like a place that has been insulated from this type of attack and I am hopeful Italy doesn't begin to wind up on someones radar.  I was just in Florence on the ponte vecchio and actually had an eye open.  ponte vecchio has no barriers preventing vehicle access and is packed with tourists.  just hope places become more vigilant going forward, where it is possible. 

 
killface said:
13 confirmed dead and 50 injured
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dammit. :(

at least the hostage/gunmen thing wasn't real. 

Per WaPO

By William Booth, Karla Adam and Brian Murphy August 17 at 2:32 PM 

LONDON — A driver swerved a van onto a pedestrian area Thursday in Barcelona’s historic Las Ramblas district, ramming into crowds and leaving at least 13 people dead and more than 50 injured scattered along a stretch of tree-shaded sidewalk. Authorities described the incident as a terrorist attack.

Joaquim Forn, the interior minister of the Catalan regional government, confirmed the casualty toll in a Twitter message.

Some of those injured were in serious condition, raising the possibility that the death toll could rise.

Earlier, Spanish police described the carnage as “massive.”

Spanish police did not immediately give details on the driver or other aspects of the incident.

Regional police arrested one man in connection with the attack, Catalan police authorities announced on Twitter, without offering additional identification. They said there was no hostage situation in a bar in the city center, denying rumors that quickly spread in the confused hours after the van plowed through the crowd.
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Chemical X said:
seems all the places I have visited have this type of violence now.  makes it a bit scarier for me nowadays.  las ramblas is really for pedestrians IMO.  big open walkways lined with trees and kiosks and vendors on the way to the boqueria.  I know this is no time to joke around and I say this as innocently as possible, but if they took out a couple of those mime type beggars that are painted in silver and gold, well...........

spain seems like a place that has been insulated from this type of attack and I am hopeful Italy doesn't begin to wind up on someones radar.  I was just in Florence on the ponte vecchio and actually had an eye open.  ponte vecchio has no barriers preventing vehicle access and is packed with tourists.  just hope places become more vigilant going forward, where it is possible. 
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Good article in the guardian about how ISIS is fizzling out and they are no longer calling for a caliphate but calling for just individual attacks in any country.  I think the days of these things are coming to an end thankfully. You'll still see some desperate attacks here and there but without the larger calling they are going to lose their effectiveness

In regards to these types of areas, bollards are dirt cheap and would stop vehicles from being able to enter areas like this.  Lots of places in france are installing them like crazy right now.  They really should be everywhere because we have seen in the last while that driving your car into people is the new calling card for mentally disturbed people everywhere.  

 
Chemical X said:
seems all the places I have visited have this type of violence now.  makes it a bit scarier for me nowadays.  las ramblas is really for pedestrians IMO.  big open walkways lined with trees and kiosks and vendors on the way to the boqueria.  I know this is no time to joke around and I say this as innocently as possible, but if they took out a couple of those mime type beggars that are painted in silver and gold, well...........

spain seems like a place that has been insulated from this type of attack and I am hopeful Italy doesn't begin to wind up on someones radar.  I was just in Florence on the ponte vecchio and actually had an eye open.  ponte vecchio has no barriers preventing vehicle access and is packed with tourists.  just hope places become more vigilant going forward, where it is possible. 
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discussion probably better for once the dust has settled, but it seems like they've been without anything major since they voted to elect the goverment pulling them from the ME warzone/support immediately after and as a direct result of that train bombing in Madrid. had felt like a quid-pro-quo set up... until now.

 
El Floppo said:
dammit. :(

at least the hostage/gunmen thing wasn't real. 

Per WaPO
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the route is confusing a bit, unless I am forgetting something, but that is not just a pedestrian area in the true sense of how it seems.  it is both cars and pedestrians.......almost reminds me of a smaller version of Pelham pkwy in the Bronx.  single lanes on the outside then large pedestrian walkways then main lanes in the middle.  its been a couple of years and I could be wrong.  maybe pedestrian area means something different.

 
killface said:
Good article in the guardian about how ISIS is fizzling out and they are no longer calling for a caliphate but calling for just individual attacks in any country.  I think the days of these things are coming to an end thankfully. You'll still see some desperate attacks here and there but without the larger calling they are going to lose their effectiveness

In regards to these types of areas, bollards are dirt cheap and would stop vehicles from being able to enter areas like this.  Lots of places in france are installing them like crazy right now.  They really should be everywhere because we have seen in the last while that driving your car into people is the new calling card for mentally disturbed people everywhere.  
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I work near the Empire State Building.. they've put up giant concrete blocks along the sidewalks instead. PIA, imo- difficult to maneuver a lot of people around in a busy part of town... but I'd guess even cheaper than the bollards.

 
Chemical X said:
the route is confusing a bit, unless I am forgetting something, but that is not just a pedestrian area in the true sense of how it seems.  it is both cars and pedestrians.......almost reminds me of a smaller version of Pelham pkwy in the Bronx.  single lanes on the outside then large pedestrian walkways then main lanes in the middle.  its been a couple of years and I could be wrong.  maybe pedestrian area means something different.
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:goodposting:

that image I linked earlier looked like it was purely pedestrian... but looking at google, you're right. large, wide, central median for foot traffic with kiosks/trees. directional car traffic either side and then sidewalks. looks like the van went down that central median. :(  

 
Chemical X said:
seems all the places I have visited have this type of violence now.  makes it a bit scarier for me nowadays.  las ramblas is really for pedestrians IMO.  big open walkways lined with trees and kiosks and vendors on the way to the boqueria.  I know this is no time to joke around and I say this as innocently as possible, but if they took out a couple of those mime type beggars that are painted in silver and gold, well...........

spain seems like a place that has been insulated from this type of attack and I am hopeful Italy doesn't begin to wind up on someones radar.  I was just in Florence on the ponte vecchio and actually had an eye open.  ponte vecchio has no barriers preventing vehicle access and is packed with tourists.  just hope places become more vigilant going forward, where it is possible. 
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It shouldn't. Riding in a car is far more dangerous. 

 
Politician Spock said:
It shouldn't. Riding in a car is far more dangerous. 
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I hear you.

but I think the point is that getting into a car, you know the inherent dangers. walking on a pedestrian thoroughfare like the ramblas... these are only now starting to be new and understood dangers where we've led our lives here in the states just assuming completely safety. sure the chances of getting hurt or killed in a car crash is much greater than in one of these... but it's that new awareness that it's not completely safe- especially in the more obvious areas like this, ponte vechio, times square, etc..... I get it. 

 
It's pretty awful and gruesome stuff.  The terrorists methods have devolved down to simply running people over, which is just ridiculously awful and sad...

 
El Floppo said:
:goodposting:

that image I linked earlier looked like it was purely pedestrian... but looking at google, you're right. large, wide, central median for foot traffic with kiosks/trees. directional car traffic either side and then sidewalks. looks like the van went down that central median. :(  
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like I said, unless they made it a no car zone, it is not pedestrian only.  maybe you can drop little yellow man onto the map and take a gander.  that said, the center pedestrian walkways are massive, not normal sidewalks.  they have vendors, booths, benches.  it's a gorgeous, tree lined section with great architecture.  looks like the car came from the direction of the beach and not the fountain and plaza.

 
El Floppo said:
I hear you.

but I think the point is that getting into a car, you know the inherent dangers. walking on a pedestrian thoroughfare like the ramblas... these are only now starting to be new and understood dangers where we've led our lives here in the states just assuming completely safety. sure the chances of getting hurt or killed in a car crash is much greater than in one of these... but it's that new awareness that it's not completely safe- especially in the more obvious areas like this, ponte vechio, times square, etc..... I get it. 
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I am not yet programmed to be fully aware of vehicles coming at me in pedestrian areas.  In a vehicle, I don't have the mind set a single vehicle is looking to strike me.

My last trip, for the first time ever, I thought of it.  Thought of it on Ponte Vecchio, but not Rome.  Thought of it in Paris as well.  Wife and I had a pact to push each other out of the way if we saw something first, though I suspect she may not have adhered to our agreement. 

 
My parents are in Spain on vacation. I was legit worried when I heard what happened but I just got in touch with them and they're okay. They were actually in Las Ramblas, Barcelona yesterday and had dinner near where this occurred. #### man, that scared me.

 
El Floppo said:
:goodposting:

that image I linked earlier looked like it was purely pedestrian... but looking at google, you're right. large, wide, central median for foot traffic with kiosks/trees. directional car traffic either side and then sidewalks. looks like the van went down that central median. :(  
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It's been 12+ years since I've been there, but I think I remember it being purely pedestrian closer to the water? 

ETA: just looked. It just gets wider closer to the water, so maybe thats why I remember it being only pedestrian. 

 
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SameSongNDance said:
My parents are in Spain on vacation. I was legit worried when I heard what happened but I just got in touch with them and they're okay. They were actually in Las Ramblas, Barcelona yesterday and had dinner near where this occurred. #### man, that scared me.
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A buddy of mine here at work is there right now too...He actually e-mailed with what was going on right around the time it started hitting the news.  He said the police response was massive.  He's OK...but hasn't said much more than that.

 
killface said:
Good article in the guardian about how ISIS is fizzling out and they are no longer calling for a caliphate but calling for just individual attacks in any country.  I think the days of these things are coming to an end thankfully. You'll still see some desperate attacks here and there but without the larger calling they are going to lose their effectiveness

In regards to these types of areas, bollards are dirt cheap and would stop vehicles from being able to enter areas like this.  Lots of places in france are installing them like crazy right now.  They really should be everywhere because we have seen in the last while that driving your car into people is the new calling card for mentally disturbed people everywhere.  
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Seems like wishful thinking, but I hope you're right.  A human life means nothing to these idiots... so hard to watch.

 
What bothers me is that when this piece of #### dies, he's not going to discover that there is no god and that he threw his life away for something that is as real as the Harry Potter series. What a loser. 

 
Chemical X said:
like I said, unless they made it a no car zone, it is not pedestrian only.  maybe you can drop little yellow man onto the map and take a gander.  that said, the center pedestrian walkways are massive, not normal sidewalks.  they have vendors, booths, benches.  it's a gorgeous, tree lined section with great architecture.  looks like the car came from the direction of the beach and not the fountain and plaza.
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The image Floppo posted shows he started at plaza. 

And, yes, Las Ramblas is a beautiful area. 

 
This stinks but it tells me we are winning (won) the war on terror if this is the only extent to which ISIS can attack.

I honest to God never understood why they have never picked a bunch of podunk malls in America and just go in with teams of 10 or so blasting away on black friday.  That would bring our economy to a standstill for a few days and the bloodshed would be horrific. 

 
SameSongNDance said:
My parents are in Spain on vacation. I was legit worried when I heard what happened but I just got in touch with them and they're okay. They were actually in Las Ramblas, Barcelona yesterday and had dinner near where this occurred. #### man, that scared me.
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Glad they are OK.  I had a friend that was right there on Tuesday.

 
Looking at the thread title, I thought that this was a soccer bus crash all day until I flipped on the news and realized this was likely a terrorist attack by any stretch of any imagination.

 
tommyboy said:
A crash implies it's an accident.

It wasn't an accident.
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Yes and no.  You can intentionally crash, it is just normally used in context of an accident.  I would word the headline differently to provide a clear picture that it was murder. 

 
jon_mx said:
Yes and no.  You can intentionally crash, it is just normally used in context of an accident.  I would word the headline differently to provide a clear picture that it was murder. 
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two airplanes crashed into the twin towers.   I suppose that's accurate technically but not really conveying all the info.

 
Jfc. 

Relax, nimrods. I haven't updated the thread title yet.

Now that I have, have fun with whatever agenda you feel it's important to be perpetuated in the face of this terrible... now two terrible... events.

 
El Floppo said:
:confused:

They said "terror" attack when the first Spanish official made the first official announcement saying it was a "terror" attack. Just like every other news outlet.
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Ah, okay, Flop. Just posting what I saw on the news. I've been busy all day.

 
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