Medical staff members and policemen standing in a cordoned off area after a van plowed into the crowd on the Rambla in Barcelona, Aug. 17, 2017. (Josep Lago/AFP/Getty)
BARCELONA — A van plowed through a crowd of people on its main shopping street, killing and injuring a number of people in Barcelona.
The incident — which police said they were treating as a terrorist attack — on the Rambla avenue Thursday, Aug. 17, occurred near the entrance to Maccabi, a kosher restaurant. Spanish media, including the online edition of the El Mundo daily, reported that the bulk of injuries occurred outside the FNAC department store, situated on the same street. Police said people were killed and injured but did not specify exact numbers, The New York Times reported.
Barcelona’s chief rabbi, Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen, said it did not appear that the attack had targeted Jews, but that security forces had instructed him to temporarily close Jewish institutions in the city, according to Israel’s Channel 10. According to the Daily Mail several people were injured outside the restaurant.
Witnesses at the scene said the driver of the car, a small truck, fled on foot the scene of the incident. The AFP news agency said Spanish police were treating the incident as a terrorist attack. Shots were fired at the scene, witnesses said. Shortly after the attack, two armed men entered a Turkish restaurant, Luna de Estambul, in Barcelona, according to the AP. The men were holed up in the restaurant as police surrounded the place, Mundo Hispanico reported.
Reports stated that local police have arrested one man in connection with the attack. Some reports speculated that the man is Driss Oukabir, a Moroccan citizen who the Spanish-language paper El Pais identified as the person who rented the van.
Avi Mayer, a spokesman for the Jewish Agency for Israel, posted an item from what appears to be Oukabir’s Facebook page showing an anti-Semitic video. Oukabir’s Facebook page has since been taken down.
In photos from the scene of the attack, men and women in summer clothing are seen lying on the ground, and in some cases being treated by civilians and medics.
As the car began hitting pedestrians, a stampede occurred on the street and in the FNAC store, in which additional people were injured, according to El Mundo.
This is a developing story, and was updated at 14:41 with new information.
