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The desires for independence unstoppable, Spain Closes Barcelona Airspace

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Spain closes Catalonia’s airspace for helicopters and light aviation to suppress taking aerial pictures of possible demonstrations.

Spain’s national civil aviation authority on Friday closed Barcelona’s airspace for helicopters and light aircraft until October 2, ahead of the independence referendum in Catalonia, local media reported.

According to El Mundo newspaper citing sources, the restrictions aim to prohibit “visual operations,” making it impossible to take aerial pictures of possible demonstrations.

Spanish authorities continue to take measures to prevent the vote. The day before Spain’s Civil Guard on Thursday seized 100 ballot boxes and 2.5 million ballots prepared for the Catalan independence referendum, which the Spanish government does not recognize.

Almost 10 million ballots were seized last week, although the whole population of Catalonia is a little more than 7.5 million, including those who are not eligible to vote.

The Spanish federal government has filed a complaint with the country’s Constitutional Court over the Catalan government and parliament approving the law on the referendum. The court has taken the complaint under review, thus suspending the Catalan law and making all further preparations for the referendum illegal, but the supporters of the vote have not ceased their activities.

Chilling footage shows Barcelona terrorists laughing and joking just hours before massacre

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The three men were caught on CCTV hours before they were shot dead following a second terror attack (Image: REUTERS)

Omar Hychami, Houssaine Abouyaaqoub and Moussa Oukabir were later gunned down in a hail of bullets as they launched a second attack in Cambrils

By Gerard Couzens

Footage has emerged showing the Barcelona suspects laughing and joking at a petrol station shop just hours before the terror attack.

Three of the attackers shot dead in Cambrils last week were caught on CCTV buying items at the motorway service station shop.

The men were identified by Catalan daily Ara as Omar Hychami, Las Ramblas killer Younes Abouyaaqoub’s brother Houssaine and Moussa Oukabir, wrongly initially believed to be the driver.

Ara, who published the footage on Wednesday, reported that the attackers visited the same petrol station four times that day and regularly charged their pre-pay cards at the shop.

On the day of the attack they purchased bread, omelettes and lighters, Ara reported.

Hours later they were gunned down in a hail of bullets by a hero police officer as they attacked pedestrians with an axe and knives in the sleepy seaside town.

UPDATED Perpetrators of 2nd attack south of Barcelona killed in shootout

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Shootout in town of Cambrils leaves 5 suspects dead; 6 civilians and 1 police officer hurt

The latest:

  • 13 dead, 100 injured in Barcelona van attack; victims inlcude 24 nationalities 
  • 2 suspects arrested in towns of Ripoll and Alcanar, neither believed to be the driver
  • 2nd attack in Cambrils; 5 attackers killed in shootout with police
  • House explosion in Alcanar Wednesday linked to Cambrils and Barcelona attacks

The police force for Spain’s Catalonia region said its troopers shot dead five suspected perpetrators in a “terrorist attack” in the town of Cambrils, a resort town about 120 kilometres southwest of Barcelona on the coast of the Mediterranean in northeastern Spain.

Police said the Cambrils attack was linked to Thursday’s Barcelona van attack that left 13 people dead and more than 100 injured.

They said the attackers were carrying bomb belts that were detonated by a police bomb squad.

Police have not provided any details on how the Cambrils attack was carried out, but media reports said a car crashed into a police vehicle and nearby civilians and police shot the attackers, one of whom was brandishing a knife. A police officer and five civilians were injured, and two of those injured were in serious condition.

The Catalan regional government said citizens from 24 countries were among the people killed or injured in the Barcelona van attack. Global Affairs Canada said no Canadians were among the dead or injured.

Spanish authorities said one Belgian citizen is among the dead.

The injured include a female citizen of Greece, three Australian citizens, two Taiwanese and one Chinese citizen from Hong Kong.

Police are working on the theory that the Cambrils and Barcelona attacks are connected, as well as a Wednesday night explosion in the town of Alcanar, 90 km southwest of Cambrils, that killed one person.

ISIS claims responsibility for Barcelona attack

Earlier Thursday, a van veered onto a sidewalk and barrelled down a busy pedestrian zone in Barcelona’s picturesque Las Ramblas district, swerving from side to side as it mowed down tourists and residents and turned the popular European vacation promenade into a bloody killing zone.

Victims were left sprawled in the street, spattered with blood or crippled by broken limbs. Others fled in panic, screaming or carrying young children in their arms.

“It was clearly a terror attack, intended to kill as many people as possible,” Josep Lluis Trapero, a senior police official, told a news conference late Thursday. The number of casualties was expected to rise.

Trapero, head of the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalonian police force, said two people were in custody in connection with the van attack — a Moroccan and a Spanish national from Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa — but that neither of them was believed to be the driver of the van.