:00:07. > :00:16.Hello and welcome to BBC special coverage. We are staying just with
:00:17. > :00:20.this one news story here on BBC News. Because in the last few hours
:00:21. > :00:25.there has been a terrorist attack in Barcelona. Police say they are
:00:26. > :00:30.dealing with an ongoing situation. A van ploughed into pedestrians in one
:00:31. > :00:35.of the biggest -- busiest tourist areas of that Spanish city. So to
:00:36. > :00:40.confirm what we know at this stage, Spanish police confirming that at
:00:41. > :00:46.least one person has been killed and 32 injured. Ten of them are
:00:47. > :00:50.seriously injured. This happened on the map ready the tourist area of
:00:51. > :01:01.lab Ramblas. A major thoroughfare through the centre of the city. Over
:01:02. > :01:04.the last few hours when this is have been describing hundreds of people
:01:05. > :01:12.running down the streets. People have spoken to us who were hiding in
:01:13. > :01:18.shops. Spanish media is reporting that two armed men have been held up
:01:19. > :01:25.in a nearby bar and have taken hostages but that specific line has
:01:26. > :01:33.not been confirmed by the police. Let's go to the scene live in
:01:34. > :01:35.Barcelona. This tells the story and reflect what the eyewitnesses we
:01:36. > :01:38.have been talking to have been saying which is that police be
:01:39. > :01:46.moving people out of the area as much as possible. The advice is to
:01:47. > :01:49.stay indoors and anyone who has been out on the streets have been moved
:01:50. > :01:54.away and we have spoken to many when here on BBC news in the last few
:01:55. > :01:58.hours to have been moved out of that key central area for their own
:01:59. > :02:03.safety and the police cordon has been getting slowly better. That is
:02:04. > :02:06.why the streets now work the required. Not entirely deserted,
:02:07. > :02:12.interestingly, but every witness we have spoken to has said that they
:02:13. > :02:13.have been harried down side streets. And that the police have been moving
:02:14. > :02:16.people away, people have been running and police
:02:17. > :02:21.have been moving people away. Certainly, at the moment, the advice
:02:22. > :02:25.is to still stay indoors wherever possible. To reiterate, the casualty
:02:26. > :02:29.numbers, as we understand them, there has been a lot of confusion
:02:30. > :02:41.about this, the official police comment on that is one person has
:02:42. > :02:44.died and 32 are injured. You may well have heard or picked up on
:02:45. > :02:46.social media are far bigger numbers than that, sadly. That is partly
:02:47. > :02:49.because Spanish media say that at least 13 people have died. That is
:02:50. > :02:54.what is being said locally. Spanish police will not confirm that at this
:02:55. > :02:58.stage. There is talk, first of all, to Will Geddes. A security
:02:59. > :03:03.consultant, well known to us here at the BBC. We speak to him a lot about
:03:04. > :03:11.these sorts of incidents. By chance, I gather that you are in Barcelona?
:03:12. > :03:16.Can you explain what you have experienced today and what you know
:03:17. > :03:21.of the situation? Absolutely. I have been down at the court in line along
:03:22. > :03:28.Las Ramblas. I was actually hear a few hours ago. The view is, it's a
:03:29. > :03:33.very small boulevard, in many regards. It is incredibly busy.
:03:34. > :03:41.Every single shop or building contains a cafe, a shop, a
:03:42. > :03:50.restaurant. It is packed, from dawn until dusk, with tourists. And
:03:51. > :03:54.locals. I got reports, I was a mile away from the events taking place
:03:55. > :04:01.and I got there as quickly as possible. The police cordon was
:04:02. > :04:06.quickly mounted by authorities and they put it further out every ten or
:04:07. > :04:13.15 minutes, moving the general public away. The sense here is,
:04:14. > :04:16.business as normal. It may be partly due to people not being necessarily
:04:17. > :04:24.aware of what has actually occurred today. And when you heard that this
:04:25. > :04:29.was a van that had driven into pedestrians, one person that I spoke
:04:30. > :04:34.to said that he watched it swerving, almost making a figure of eight, if
:04:35. > :04:40.I can put it that way, swerving into pedestrians. What goes through your
:04:41. > :04:46.mind about the modus operandi here? It's a typical and standard delivery
:04:47. > :04:52.platform by terror groups these days. And extremists, we have seen a
:04:53. > :04:58.lot of it recently and in North America obviously. Again, the
:04:59. > :05:04.delivery of attack by vehicle is easy to mount and it is difficult to
:05:05. > :05:10.prevent, other than with vehicle mitigation methods, putting concrete
:05:11. > :05:15.blocks into key areas. Barcelona will be reconsidering their planning
:05:16. > :05:18.to incorporate blocks around touristy areas in the city where
:05:19. > :05:26.there is a vast number of people congregated. That plays into the
:05:27. > :05:30.terror ideal. A lot of intelligence coming through now, there are
:05:31. > :05:35.certain people who are quite jumpy. There are a lot of different reports
:05:36. > :05:44.coming in right now, as you and I both know, in the first occasion of
:05:45. > :05:48.terror incidents, there could be some unsubstantiated reports. Some
:05:49. > :06:00.will be speculation but there have been confirmations that the second
:06:01. > :06:06.vehicle, that this vehicle was also rented and one can assume, certainly
:06:07. > :06:09.within a short period of time, that Spanish intelligence agencies are
:06:10. > :06:13.all over it and looking into the individual and any known associates.
:06:14. > :06:20.There will be thoughts of whether there could be other attacks in the
:06:21. > :06:23.imminent period. And so, that presents an extremely worrying
:06:24. > :06:27.scenario for the authorities, because, not to say that it could be
:06:28. > :06:35.in Barcelona, but it could be in another city. How, given your
:06:36. > :06:41.knowledge of this world, how do the authorities respond to that? Will
:06:42. > :06:47.they have, for example, a plan of action for precisely this grim sort
:06:48. > :06:49.of eventuality? In terms of prevention, it is incredibly
:06:50. > :06:55.difficult without putting in physical barriers as a proactive
:06:56. > :06:59.measure. I've been in many cities in the UK, and especially in London
:07:00. > :07:04.where I live, but authorities have a very good heritage of dealing with
:07:05. > :07:10.these kinds of incidents. Certainly, ranging right back to these events,
:07:11. > :07:19.they have a good legacy of dealing in this capacity and certainly, all
:07:20. > :07:23.agencies that are directly affected, there are supporters of Islamic
:07:24. > :07:27.State, and they would have been preparing themselves after each
:07:28. > :07:31.preceding attack, and as we have seen, many of these attacks have
:07:32. > :07:38.involved a delivery of attack by a vehicle. Because, regrettably, that
:07:39. > :07:46.is just so straightforward to do, is it as basic as that? Sadly, it is.
:07:47. > :07:54.It is something which is, unfortunately, an element of our
:07:55. > :08:00.everyday lives, and it is something that unfortunately any large town or
:08:01. > :08:04.city cannot exist without unless it has a sophisticated public
:08:05. > :08:09.transportation infrastructure. For the time being we will always have
:08:10. > :08:13.vehicles on our roads but where there are cities who could feel that
:08:14. > :08:17.they are vulnerable to this, they have to go on adopting a more robust
:08:18. > :08:26.stance, certainly introducing bees concrete blocks and hostile vehicle
:08:27. > :08:28.mitigation measures where they can. And unfortunately, the general
:08:29. > :08:33.public should take reassurance from that rather than an alarmist
:08:34. > :08:39.perspective, in that we had to live in fear. We are going to be safer
:08:40. > :08:45.with protective measures all around us. And the only thing that could
:08:46. > :08:48.truly prevent this kind of attack, and you and I reflected on this the
:08:49. > :08:55.morning after the London Bridge attack here in the UK, ultimately,
:08:56. > :08:59.because of what has happened here is relatively straightforward, as you
:09:00. > :09:06.describe, only intelligence will prevent these attacks? Absolutely,
:09:07. > :09:10.intelligence agencies, sharing intelligence between various
:09:11. > :09:15.countries, that is key. You may have seen, I have on Twitter, various
:09:16. > :09:22.names touted as the identity of the individual behind the attacks today.
:09:23. > :09:26.And so, again, one must be cautious but agencies have sufficient
:09:27. > :09:29.intelligence and many of those that have had those horrific attacks have
:09:30. > :09:36.been known to a greater or lesser degree by agencies. The problem that
:09:37. > :09:40.we face is one of resource. For those agencies, being able to
:09:41. > :09:50.monitor and keep watch in various different forms. Those who could be
:09:51. > :09:56.a potential risk to us. Will Geddes, it's good to have your time this
:09:57. > :10:02.evening. The terrorism and security expert, who, by chance, is in
:10:03. > :10:06.Barcelona. We are sadly well used to talking to Will Geddes in events
:10:07. > :10:10.like this, and by chance he is in that Spanish city tonight and was
:10:11. > :10:14.able to speak to us. There is actually a couple of important lines
:10:15. > :10:18.coming from the Catalan police in the last few moments. And Reuters
:10:19. > :10:24.News Agency. They say that police are telling them that they have
:10:25. > :10:30.arrested one man. So, Catalan police telling Reuters News Agency that
:10:31. > :10:35.they have arrested one man. Also, an important caveat, because they are
:10:36. > :10:38.saying, police are saying, there is nobody held up in a bar in
:10:39. > :10:46.Barcelona, and that is interesting. They are responding to several hours
:10:47. > :10:50.of response in Pat -- reports in Spanish media that two men were
:10:51. > :10:54.holding people in a bar. That came through in the last couple of hours
:10:55. > :10:58.and Spanish media have consistently reported that and it appears Catalan
:10:59. > :11:03.police wanted to explain that that element was not correct. So, police
:11:04. > :11:08.are adamant that there is nobody being held up in a bar in Barcelona.
:11:09. > :11:14.But just in the last few minutes, police have said that they have
:11:15. > :11:19.arrested one man. Our correspondent Tom Burridge has been following this
:11:20. > :11:25.year in the BBC Studios as well. Tom, you are very familiar with the
:11:26. > :11:30.country too. Probably worth drawing breath for a moment. Firstly, as
:11:31. > :11:38.ever, explaining exactly what police are thinking is this situation right
:11:39. > :11:41.now? At the moment, police are not going beyond this casualty figure of
:11:42. > :11:48.one dead. But the important phrase in the statement that we got from
:11:49. > :11:52.the official from the Interior Ministry of the Catalan government,
:11:53. > :11:55.they have a devolved government, with their own police force, that
:11:56. > :12:02.was coming straight from their twitter feed. But the Catalan police
:12:03. > :12:08.said that there could be more. The Spanish media, I am on their website
:12:09. > :12:18.right now, the most read newspaper in the country, El Pais and El Mundo
:12:19. > :12:25.say that there are at least 13 people dead. And the most popular
:12:26. > :12:29.radio station. I would be very surprised if that death toll does
:12:30. > :12:34.not rise. The Catalan police force, I think, we are now getting official
:12:35. > :12:45.information from Catalan authorities, there is nobody holed
:12:46. > :12:49.up in a bar in the centre of Barcelona. They have detained one
:12:50. > :12:56.man in relation to the terror attack. It is interesting, actually,
:12:57. > :13:01.on El Mundo's website, they have published a photo of a man which
:13:02. > :13:08.they say has come directly from police, I'm not clear on whether it
:13:09. > :13:15.has come from spat-- Spanish national police or from mozos, they
:13:16. > :13:22.have a man on earth African origin with legal residency in Spain, they
:13:23. > :13:27.have a photo of a suspect, a man wanted in connection with the
:13:28. > :13:32.attack. That has been released online and we will have that photo
:13:33. > :13:38.for people to see. It seems swift, given that this only happened in the
:13:39. > :13:41.last three, maximum four hours. But it is a fast moving situation of
:13:42. > :13:50.course. There was an earlier reference to finding a van in a
:13:51. > :13:53.nearby area, not in Barcelona it self? Is a town that I am familiar
:13:54. > :13:59.with, I had colleagues who went there for a story in the last couple
:14:00. > :14:05.of years. It is a fairly small place 60 kilometres from Barcelona. Police
:14:06. > :14:10.have found the van, information is coming from the mayor there, quoted
:14:11. > :14:14.in Spanish press. You would be surprised if the basic information
:14:15. > :14:19.is incorrect, he is essentially saying that this van has been found,
:14:20. > :14:23.and it is thought that it could be linked to the attacks. At the
:14:24. > :14:30.moment, I do not think we should read too much into this van, things
:14:31. > :14:35.may become clear that actually this van has nothing to do with the
:14:36. > :14:45.attack at all, but it is part of that investigation. And that's
:14:46. > :14:53.coming from the town itself. And your thoughts on what kind of impact
:14:54. > :14:59.that this has had upon people. And relating to Spain, and what the
:15:00. > :15:03.national debate has been on terrorism and how vulnerable they
:15:04. > :15:10.feel, what are your thoughts more broadly? People will remember the
:15:11. > :15:15.bombings, several years ago, well before I was in Spain, on the train
:15:16. > :15:21.system, small trains coming into the capital of Madrid. That was the
:15:22. > :15:26.major terror attack in Spain in recent years. This does not seem on
:15:27. > :15:32.that scale by any means but clearly it is a serious attack. It will
:15:33. > :15:42.concentrate minds, I remember going around in the trade, -- in Madrid,
:15:43. > :15:46.as I was jogging, I left there two years ago or so. There have been
:15:47. > :15:52.other terror attacks in other parts of Europe. Spain had not been hit in
:15:53. > :16:01.the time that I was there, in the five years or so in Spain. There was
:16:02. > :16:11.a heavy police presence outside, the train station in the Madrid area,
:16:12. > :16:16.that area of Barcelona, it is heaving. That particular area of Las
:16:17. > :16:24.Ramblas, it is a labyrinth of tiny streets. It is a beautiful area. It
:16:25. > :16:30.is a very packed and densely packed area. Of course, Las Ramblas is one
:16:31. > :16:34.of the most famous places. A lot of locals avoid the area because it is
:16:35. > :16:40.so packed with tourists on any day. The other interesting thing is, the
:16:41. > :16:44.Catalan government, on a political step back from this, the Catalan
:16:45. > :16:47.government is planning a referendum on independence from Spain at the
:16:48. > :16:51.beginning of October. The Spanish and have said, you cannot do it, it
:16:52. > :16:56.is illegal and against the constitution. This has been dragging
:16:57. > :17:00.on for years. There a stand-off between the Catalan and Spanish
:17:01. > :17:04.government. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister, is going to
:17:05. > :17:07.Barcelona now and that is not surprising. He will want to be
:17:08. > :17:12.there, it's a big incident for the country. We will get a sense of
:17:13. > :17:18.unity. Spanish media are saying in the next 12 minutes or so, we will
:17:19. > :17:23.hear from the head of the Catalan government. He is expected to give a
:17:24. > :17:27.statement, do not expect if it is delayed given the complexity and
:17:28. > :17:31.lack of clarity and how things are only just becoming clearer by the
:17:32. > :17:36.minute. Once he gets a statement, then we will get some actual
:17:37. > :17:40.concrete facts wrong authorities. And the fact that he is giving a
:17:41. > :17:43.statement, I guess it means that authorities are getting a hand on
:17:44. > :17:48.the situation, and they know the facts on the ground. We will keep an
:17:49. > :17:52.eye. Thank you. I know that you will be staying with us, Tom Burridge. A
:17:53. > :17:56.suggestion that there will be a statement from Catalan police at
:17:57. > :18:01.half-past. Keep an eye on that and see whether further details are
:18:02. > :18:05.given in the news briefing. Let's speak to another eyewitness in
:18:06. > :18:10.Barcelona at the moment. Charlie Parsons joins me on the phone. Thank
:18:11. > :18:17.you for talking to the BBC. What have you experienced in Barcelona
:18:18. > :18:21.today? I was cycling up Las Ramblas when suddenly a huge crowd rushed
:18:22. > :18:27.into me, about ten or 20 metres in front of me. You freeze when that
:18:28. > :18:33.happens. Obviously something was happening, there was screaming. I
:18:34. > :18:37.froze, I was actually on a city bike that I needed to return. That was my
:18:38. > :18:43.first thought and then I thought, I have to get to safety. I walked down
:18:44. > :18:46.Las Ramblas, passing three or four people who had something that had
:18:47. > :18:50.happened to them. There was blood, I could see them on the ground. I
:18:51. > :18:56.showed it in a shop as it was closing its metal blinds. It was
:18:57. > :19:04.quite a scary moment. Did you begin to understand what was happening or
:19:05. > :19:08.was its sheer confusion? Obviously something had happened, I could hear
:19:09. > :19:12.shots, it may have been police. I assumed it was gunfire of some kind.
:19:13. > :19:17.There was clearly something awful that had happened. Having been in
:19:18. > :19:23.London when the most recent London Bridge attack happened, I recognised
:19:24. > :19:29.what it was. Your reaction is weird. You freeze, and I can literally
:19:30. > :19:33.think of the time I went in... I went into the shop as they were
:19:34. > :19:41.closing the shutters, as I say. Your first thought is, my God, what was
:19:42. > :19:44.that about? In the shop, people were actually crying. I think some people
:19:45. > :19:50.may have had friends outside who did not get in before the shuttle was
:19:51. > :19:56.closing. I was thinking... This is awful. It was the scariest thing
:19:57. > :20:01.that has happened in my life, for sure. Given that, it's very good of
:20:02. > :20:06.you to talk to us, Charlie. Do you feel able to assess what the mood is
:20:07. > :20:11.now? Admittedly, still only a few hours later, but have you been able
:20:12. > :20:18.to get a sense of what local people are thinking and feeling about this?
:20:19. > :20:22.Not just tourists? I don't know. I walked out the back door of this
:20:23. > :20:27.place about 15 minutes after I had gone in. It was weird, it was
:20:28. > :20:33.obviously before it had got to the news. So nobody was even really
:20:34. > :20:42.aware of it. Barcelona life, which is very busy, was just continuing. I
:20:43. > :20:45.don't know. Knowing from London, people will get on with their
:20:46. > :20:51.business, they will not let it affect them. They did not seem to be
:20:52. > :20:55.an error of panic, even though by the time I had to go up and around,
:20:56. > :21:02.to get to where I was staying, and played a Catalina -- plaque at the
:21:03. > :21:10.Catalunya was closed, people were just walking. It was scary in the
:21:11. > :21:16.moment, the people may be curious about what had happened. I am sat on
:21:17. > :21:22.a roof terrace and a helicopter has been circling since the incident,
:21:23. > :21:27.looking for something. You can hear police sirens and ambulances that
:21:28. > :21:32.life has to go on. I feel like staying in. I do not want to be
:21:33. > :21:36.going out tonight, that is how I feel. It's really good of you to
:21:37. > :21:41.speak to us. Thank you very much indeed. Charlie Parsons talking to
:21:42. > :21:46.us from Barcelona, and explaining what he has experienced like so many
:21:47. > :21:57.others in the last few hours in the Spanish city. Now, the Catalan
:21:58. > :22:02.government has been putting updates on Twitter, and as we are now
:22:03. > :22:05.familiar with, it is often on social media but announcements are made in
:22:06. > :22:09.relation to these investigations and it is worth telling you that the
:22:10. > :22:16.Catalan government is now saying on Twitter that there is confirmation,
:22:17. > :22:21.sadly, that 13 people have died. At least 50 have been injured. This is
:22:22. > :22:26.what they have been putting on to their Twitter, 13 people have been
:22:27. > :22:30.killed and at least 50 are injured. Those are similar to the kinds of
:22:31. > :22:34.figures that Spanish media have sadly been reporting in the last
:22:35. > :22:38.couple of hours but we have only just had that confirmed. The Catalan
:22:39. > :22:44.government have confirmed 13 people are dead and at least 50 injured. We
:22:45. > :22:47.know, in the last little while, that one person has been arrested. Police
:22:48. > :22:54.announced that in the last little while. One man has been arrested.
:22:55. > :22:59.Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, issued a brief statement.
:23:00. > :23:03.INAUDIBLE In response to that terror attack in
:23:04. > :23:10.Barcelona. The British Prime Minister says that the UK stands
:23:11. > :23:15.with Spain against terror. Donald Trump, from the US, has said that
:23:16. > :23:25.America stands ready to help Spanish authorities after today's attack.
:23:26. > :23:29.Just a final thought from you, just for now, Tom Burridge, a BBC
:23:30. > :23:35.correspondent in Spain for several years. One person has been arrested
:23:36. > :23:39.but grim news in terms of the death toll so far? A sad night for
:23:40. > :23:44.Barcelona and Spain. It is a great city. I am genuinely gutted that
:23:45. > :23:51.this has happened. As you say, this is coming in, a beneficial from the
:23:52. > :23:57.Catalan government, 13 confirmed dead and 50 injured. I think that we
:23:58. > :24:03.will have two, over time, see how seriously injured those people are
:24:04. > :24:08.and whether the death toll will rise further. I am also reading that the
:24:09. > :24:14.part of the city there is in lockdown and police have evacuated
:24:15. > :24:19.bars and cafes. I think that the situation is currently ongoing and
:24:20. > :24:24.facts are still coming out. Tom Burridge will stay with us, there
:24:25. > :24:27.are suggestions that there may be another police update at half-past.
:24:28. > :24:32.We will bring you any details that police give us there. You are
:24:33. > :24:37.watching BBC News with continued coverage of a grim day in Barcelona,
:24:38. > :24:42.a terrorist attack that has claimed 13 lives, and left at least
:24:43. > :24:44.several of the advice at the moment is to stay indoors whenever