Spain: The illegal Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona Pro-Spain Unity Rally

Some 1 million Pro-Spain Unity demonstrated today in Barcelona

Hundreds of thousands are attending a rally for Spanish unity in Barcelona after Catalonia was stripped of its autonomy for declaring independence.

Many of those protesting in the region's largest city chanted that sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont should be jailed.

Mr Puigdemont was dismissed as Spain's central government took control of Catalan institutions.

On Sunday, a minister in Belgium said he could get political asylum there.

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum, organised by Mr Puigdemont's separatist government, was held earlier this month in defiance of a ruling by the Constitutional Court which had declared it illegal.

The Guardia Urbana, a Catalan municipal police force, said at least 300,000 people had turned out in Barcelona. Organisers and the government in Madrid put the turnout a more than a million people.

Veteran Catalan politician Josep Borrell, a former president of the European Parliament, told demonstrators that Catalonia's former separatist leaders had no right to speak on behalf of the entire region.

Among the demonstrators was Marina Fernandez, a 19-year-old student, who said she was unhappy with the actions taken by the Catalan authorities.

"I am enraged about what they are doing to the country that my grandparents built," she told the AFP news agency.

Another protester, Maria Lopez, told Reuters news agency: "What do we want? That they don't break us up. This is a disgrace. We are not going to consent. They are shameless, shameless, and Mr Puigdemont needs to be taken to prison."

Read more: Catalonia independence: Huge Barcelona pro-Spain rally - BBC News

Spain: Hundreds protest against Catalonia independence vote in Barcelona

Hundreds of people took to the streets of the Catalan capital Barcelona on Saturday, to denounce the upcoming referendum on the region’s separation from Spain. The vote is scheduled to take place on Sunday.

Anti-independence protesters carrying Spanish flags gathered in front of the Catalan government building in Barcelona. At the same time, hundreds rallied in the Spanish capital Madrid, also to protest Sunday’s referendum.

Read more: Hundreds protest against Catalonia independence vote in Barcelona — RT Newsline

Spain Terrorist Attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march

Hundreds of thousands marched in Barcelona in a show of unity on Saturday evening, with chants of “I am not afraid”, after two terrorist attacks in the Spanish region of Catalonia last week left 15 dead.

The march was led by shopkeepers and residents of the city’s central boulevard, Las Ramblas, where a van ploughed into pedestrians on 17 Aug, killing 13 and injuring over 100.

The crowd applauded representatives of the police, fire services and medical professions, who were also prominent.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the head of Catalonia’s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, dressed in dark suits, walked in the throng as people cheered while carrying red, yellow and white roses – the colours of Barcelona.

Read more: Spain attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march | World news | The Guardian

Spain: Police shoot fugitive city’s van attack wearing possible bomb belt

A police operation was underway Monday in an area west of Barcelona, and a Spanish newspaper reports that the fugitive in the city’s van attack has been captured.

Regional Spanish police said officers shot a man wearing a possible explosives belt in Subirats, a small town 45 kilometres (28 miles) west of Barcelona.

Younes Abouyaaqoub, 22, has been the target of an international manhunt since Thursday’s van attack in Barcelona. Authorities said Monday they now have evidence he drove the van that plowed down the city’s famed Las Ramblas promenade, killing 13 pedestrians and injuring more than 120 others.

Abouyaaqoub then is suspected of carjacking a man and stabbing him to death as he made his getaway, raising the death toll between the Barcelona attack and a related attack hours later to 15.

Read more: Spain: Police shoot man wearing possible bomb belt - Campbell River Mirror

EU-Spain- Terrorism: Why was Spain targeted by these Deranged Islamic terrorists? - by S. Jones and G.Tremlett

Images of the aftermath of the attack on Barcelona’s most famous street on Thursday will stir different images in the minds of different people. For those in France and the UK, they will be reminders of the attacks on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and on Westminster Bridge in London.

For many Spaniards, they will bring back memories of 11 March 2004, when 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 others injured in a series of train bombings in Madrid carried out by al-Qaida.

Older Spaniards will also remember Eta’s violent struggle for Basque independence, a failed campaign that killed more than 800 people in bombings and shootings over a period of decades.

But if the spectre of Eta has faded six years after the group began giving up its weapons – and 20 years after its murder of a young politician marked a turning point in Spanish society – the same cannot be said of the threat of cowardly radical Islamic terrorism

Read more: Barcelona and Cambrils attacks: why was Spain targeted by terrorists? | World news | The Guardian

Terrorism - Spain: Barcelona attack: Van crashes into crowds in Ramblas tourist area

Deranged Radical Islamist Terrorists

A van has ploughed into crowds in the busy Las Ramblas area of central Barcelona in what police are treating as a “terror attack”.

A government official tweeted that 13 people have died and at least 50 have been injured.

Spanish police released a handout with information about and a photograph of Maghrebi Driss Oukabir, who is suspected of renting the van used to run down pedestrians in Las Ramblas.

The self-titled Islamic State group (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack through its Amaq news agency.

"Once again a cowardly attack on innocent people by a deranged group of radial Islamist terrorists, whose territory of their self proclaimed "Islamic State" is crumbling away at an ever increasing speed".  

"To stay updated on terrorist movements{ check out the SITE Intelligence Group Website ". 

"SITE Intelligence Group is a for-profit US Bethesda, Maryland-based company that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations. From 2002 to 2008, SITE Intelligence Group was known as the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute. SITE is led by the Israeli analyst Rita Katz".

"On a personal basis, in case you see any suspect activities in your area or neighborhood, immediately contact your local police or security agency"..

EU-Digest