17/08/2017 World News Today

Hello and welcome to BBC special coverage. We are staying just with

this one news story here on BBC News. Because in the last few hours

there has been a terrorist attack in Barcelona. Police say they are

dealing with an ongoing situation. A van ploughed into pedestrians in one

of the biggest -- busiest tourist areas of that Spanish city. So to

confirm what we know at this stage, Spanish police confirming that at

least one person has been killed and 32 injured. Ten of them are

seriously injured. This happened on the map ready the tourist area of

lab Ramblas. A major thoroughfare through the centre of the city. Over

the last few hours when this is have been describing hundreds of people

running down the streets. People have spoken to us who were hiding in

shops. Spanish media is reporting that two armed men have been held up

in a nearby bar and have taken hostages but that specific line has

not been confirmed by the police. Let's go to the scene live in

Barcelona. This tells the story and reflect what the eyewitnesses we

have been talking to have been saying which is that police be

moving people out of the area as much as possible. The advice is to

stay indoors and anyone who has been out on the streets have been moved

away and we have spoken to many when here on BBC news in the last few

hours to have been moved out of that key central area for their own

safety and the police cordon has been getting slowly better. That is

why the streets now work the required. Not entirely deserted,

interestingly, but every witness we have spoken to has said that they

have been harried down side streets. And that the police have been moving

people away, people have been running and police

have been moving people away. Certainly, at the moment, the advice

is to still stay indoors wherever possible. To reiterate, the casualty

numbers, as we understand them, there has been a lot of confusion

about this, the official police comment on that is one person has

died and 32 are injured. You may well have heard or picked up on

social media are far bigger numbers than that, sadly. That is partly

because Spanish media say that at least 13 people have died. That is

what is being said locally. Spanish police will not confirm that at this

stage. There is talk, first of all, to Will Geddes. A security

consultant, well known to us here at the BBC. We speak to him a lot about

these sorts of incidents. By chance, I gather that you are in Barcelona?

Can you explain what you have experienced today and what you know

of the situation? Absolutely. I have been down at the court in line along

Las Ramblas. I was actually hear a few hours ago. The view is, it's a

very small boulevard, in many regards. It is incredibly busy.

Every single shop or building contains a cafe, a shop, a

restaurant. It is packed, from dawn until dusk, with tourists. And

locals. I got reports, I was a mile away from the events taking place

and I got there as quickly as possible. The police cordon was

quickly mounted by authorities and they put it further out every ten or

15 minutes, moving the general public away. The sense here is,

business as normal. It may be partly due to people not being necessarily

aware of what has actually occurred today. And when you heard that this

was a van that had driven into pedestrians, one person that I spoke

to said that he watched it swerving, almost making a figure of eight, if

I can put it that way, swerving into pedestrians. What goes through your

mind about the modus operandi here? It's a typical and standard delivery

platform by terror groups these days. And extremists, we have seen a

lot of it recently and in North America obviously. Again, the

delivery of attack by vehicle is easy to mount and it is difficult to

prevent, other than with vehicle mitigation methods, putting concrete

blocks into key areas. Barcelona will be reconsidering their planning

to incorporate blocks around touristy areas in the city where

there is a vast number of people congregated. That plays into the

terror ideal. A lot of intelligence coming through now, there are

certain people who are quite jumpy. There are a lot of different reports

coming in right now, as you and I both know, in the first occasion of

terror incidents, there could be some unsubstantiated reports. Some

will be speculation but there have been confirmations that the second

vehicle, that this vehicle was also rented and one can assume, certainly

within a short period of time, that Spanish intelligence agencies are

all over it and looking into the individual and any known associates.

There will be thoughts of whether there could be other attacks in the

imminent period. And so, that presents an extremely worrying

scenario for the authorities, because, not to say that it could be

in Barcelona, but it could be in another city. How, given your

knowledge of this world, how do the authorities respond to that? Will

they have, for example, a plan of action for precisely this grim sort

of eventuality? In terms of prevention, it is incredibly

difficult without putting in physical barriers as a proactive

measure. I've been in many cities in the UK, and especially in London

where I live, but authorities have a very good heritage of dealing with

these kinds of incidents. Certainly, ranging right back to these events,

they have a good legacy of dealing in this capacity and certainly, all

agencies that are directly affected, there are supporters of Islamic

State, and they would have been preparing themselves after each

preceding attack, and as we have seen, many of these attacks have

involved a delivery of attack by a vehicle. Because, regrettably, that

is just so straightforward to do, is it as basic as that? Sadly, it is.

It is something which is, unfortunately, an element of our

everyday lives, and it is something that unfortunately any large town or

city cannot exist without unless it has a sophisticated public

transportation infrastructure. For the time being we will always have

vehicles on our roads but where there are cities who could feel that

they are vulnerable to this, they have to go on adopting a more robust

stance, certainly introducing bees concrete blocks and hostile vehicle

mitigation measures where they can. And unfortunately, the general

public should take reassurance from that rather than an alarmist

perspective, in that we had to live in fear. We are going to be safer

with protective measures all around us. And the only thing that could

truly prevent this kind of attack, and you and I reflected on this the

morning after the London Bridge attack here in the UK, ultimately,

because of what has happened here is relatively straightforward, as you

describe, only intelligence will prevent these attacks? Absolutely,

intelligence agencies, sharing intelligence between various

countries, that is key. You may have seen, I have on Twitter, various

names touted as the identity of the individual behind the attacks today.

And so, again, one must be cautious but agencies have sufficient

intelligence and many of those that have had those horrific attacks have

been known to a greater or lesser degree by agencies. The problem that

we face is one of resource. For those agencies, being able to

monitor and keep watch in various different forms. Those who could be

a potential risk to us. Will Geddes, it's good to have your time this

evening. The terrorism and security expert, who, by chance, is in

Barcelona. We are sadly well used to talking to Will Geddes in events

like this, and by chance he is in that Spanish city tonight and was

able to speak to us. There is actually a couple of important lines

coming from the Catalan police in the last few moments. And Reuters

News Agency. They say that police are telling them that they have

arrested one man. So, Catalan police telling Reuters News Agency that

they have arrested one man. Also, an important caveat, because they are

saying, police are saying, there is nobody held up in a bar in

Barcelona, and that is interesting. They are responding to several hours

of response in Pat -- reports in Spanish media that two men were

holding people in a bar. That came through in the last couple of hours

and Spanish media have consistently reported that and it appears Catalan

police wanted to explain that that element was not correct. So, police

are adamant that there is nobody being held up in a bar in Barcelona.

But just in the last few minutes, police have said that they have

arrested one man. Our correspondent Tom Burridge has been following this

year in the BBC Studios as well. Tom, you are very familiar with the

country too. Probably worth drawing breath for a moment. Firstly, as

ever, explaining exactly what police are thinking is this situation right

now? At the moment, police are not going beyond this casualty figure of

one dead. But the important phrase in the statement that we got from

the official from the Interior Ministry of the Catalan government,

they have a devolved government, with their own police force, that

was coming straight from their twitter feed. But the Catalan police

said that there could be more. The Spanish media, I am on their website

right now, the most read newspaper in the country, El Pais and El Mundo

say that there are at least 13 people dead. And the most popular

radio station. I would be very surprised if that death toll does

not rise. The Catalan police force, I think, we are now getting official

information from Catalan authorities, there is nobody holed

up in a bar in the centre of Barcelona. They have detained one

man in relation to the terror attack. It is interesting, actually,

on El Mundo's website, they have published a photo of a man which

they say has come directly from police, I'm not clear on whether it

has come from spat-- Spanish national police or from mozos, they

have a man on earth African origin with legal residency in Spain, they

have a photo of a suspect, a man wanted in connection with the

attack. That has been released online and we will have that photo

for people to see. It seems swift, given that this only happened in the

last three, maximum four hours. But it is a fast moving situation of

course. There was an earlier reference to finding a van in a

nearby area, not in Barcelona it self? Is a town that I am familiar

with, I had colleagues who went there for a story in the last couple

of years. It is a fairly small place 60 kilometres from Barcelona. Police

have found the van, information is coming from the mayor there, quoted

in Spanish press. You would be surprised if the basic information

is incorrect, he is essentially saying that this van has been found,

and it is thought that it could be linked to the attacks. At the

moment, I do not think we should read too much into this van, things

may become clear that actually this van has nothing to do with the

attack at all, but it is part of that investigation. And that's

coming from the town itself. And your thoughts on what kind of impact

that this has had upon people. And relating to Spain, and what the

national debate has been on terrorism and how vulnerable they

feel, what are your thoughts more broadly? People will remember the

bombings, several years ago, well before I was in Spain, on the train

system, small trains coming into the capital of Madrid. That was the

major terror attack in Spain in recent years. This does not seem on

that scale by any means but clearly it is a serious attack. It will

concentrate minds, I remember going around in the trade, -- in Madrid,

as I was jogging, I left there two years ago or so. There have been

other terror attacks in other parts of Europe. Spain had not been hit in

the time that I was there, in the five years or so in Spain. There was

a heavy police presence outside, the train station in the Madrid area,

that area of Barcelona, it is heaving. That particular area of Las

Ramblas, it is a labyrinth of tiny streets. It is a beautiful area. It

is a very packed and densely packed area. Of course, Las Ramblas is one

of the most famous places. A lot of locals avoid the area because it is

so packed with tourists on any day. The other interesting thing is, the

Catalan government, on a political step back from this, the Catalan

government is planning a referendum on independence from Spain at the

beginning of October. The Spanish and have said, you cannot do it, it

is illegal and against the constitution. This has been dragging

on for years. There a stand-off between the Catalan and Spanish

government. Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish Prime Minister, is going to

Barcelona now and that is not surprising. He will want to be

there, it's a big incident for the country. We will get a sense of

unity. Spanish media are saying in the next 12 minutes or so, we will

hear from the head of the Catalan government. He is expected to give a

statement, do not expect if it is delayed given the complexity and

lack of clarity and how things are only just becoming clearer by the

minute. Once he gets a statement, then we will get some actual

concrete facts wrong authorities. And the fact that he is giving a

statement, I guess it means that authorities are getting a hand on

the situation, and they know the facts on the ground. We will keep an

eye. Thank you. I know that you will be staying with us, Tom Burridge. A

suggestion that there will be a statement from Catalan police at

half-past. Keep an eye on that and see whether further details are

given in the news briefing. Let's speak to another eyewitness in

Barcelona at the moment. Charlie Parsons joins me on the phone. Thank

you for talking to the BBC. What have you experienced in Barcelona

today? I was cycling up Las Ramblas when suddenly a huge crowd rushed

into me, about ten or 20 metres in front of me. You freeze when that

happens. Obviously something was happening, there was screaming. I

froze, I was actually on a city bike that I needed to return. That was my

first thought and then I thought, I have to get to safety. I walked down

Las Ramblas, passing three or four people who had something that had

happened to them. There was blood, I could see them on the ground. I

showed it in a shop as it was closing its metal blinds. It was

quite a scary moment. Did you begin to understand what was happening or

was its sheer confusion? Obviously something had happened, I could hear

shots, it may have been police. I assumed it was gunfire of some kind.

There was clearly something awful that had happened. Having been in

London when the most recent London Bridge attack happened, I recognised

what it was. Your reaction is weird. You freeze, and I can literally

think of the time I went in... I went into the shop as they were

closing the shutters, as I say. Your first thought is, my God, what was

that about? In the shop, people were actually crying. I think some people

may have had friends outside who did not get in before the shuttle was

closing. I was thinking... This is awful. It was the scariest thing

that has happened in my life, for sure. Given that, it's very good of

you to talk to us, Charlie. Do you feel able to assess what the mood is

now? Admittedly, still only a few hours later, but have you been able

to get a sense of what local people are thinking and feeling about this?

Not just tourists? I don't know. I walked out the back door of this

place about 15 minutes after I had gone in. It was weird, it was

obviously before it had got to the news. So nobody was even really

aware of it. Barcelona life, which is very busy, was just continuing. I

don't know. Knowing from London, people will get on with their

business, they will not let it affect them. They did not seem to be

an error of panic, even though by the time I had to go up and around,

to get to where I was staying, and played a Catalina -- plaque at the

Catalunya was closed, people were just walking. It was scary in the

moment, the people may be curious about what had happened. I am sat on

a roof terrace and a helicopter has been circling since the incident,

looking for something. You can hear police sirens and ambulances that

life has to go on. I feel like staying in. I do not want to be

going out tonight, that is how I feel. It's really good of you to

speak to us. Thank you very much indeed. Charlie Parsons talking to

us from Barcelona, and explaining what he has experienced like so many

others in the last few hours in the Spanish city. Now, the Catalan

government has been putting updates on Twitter, and as we are now

familiar with, it is often on social media but announcements are made in

relation to these investigations and it is worth telling you that the

Catalan government is now saying on Twitter that there is confirmation,

sadly, that 13 people have died. At least 50 have been injured. This is

what they have been putting on to their Twitter, 13 people have been

killed and at least 50 are injured. Those are similar to the kinds of

figures that Spanish media have sadly been reporting in the last

couple of hours but we have only just had that confirmed. The Catalan

government have confirmed 13 people are dead and at least 50 injured. We

know, in the last little while, that one person has been arrested. Police

announced that in the last little while. One man has been arrested.

Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, issued a brief statement.

INAUDIBLE In response to that terror attack in

Barcelona. The British Prime Minister says that the UK stands

with Spain against terror. Donald Trump, from the US, has said that

America stands ready to help Spanish authorities after today's attack.

Just a final thought from you, just for now, Tom Burridge, a BBC

correspondent in Spain for several years. One person has been arrested

but grim news in terms of the death toll so far? A sad night for

Barcelona and Spain. It is a great city. I am genuinely gutted that

this has happened. As you say, this is coming in, a beneficial from the

Catalan government, 13 confirmed dead and 50 injured. I think that we

will have two, over time, see how seriously injured those people are

and whether the death toll will rise further. I am also reading that the

part of the city there is in lockdown and police have evacuated

bars and cafes. I think that the situation is currently ongoing and

facts are still coming out. Tom Burridge will stay with us, there

are suggestions that there may be another police update at half-past.

We will bring you any details that police give us there. You are

watching BBC News with continued coverage of a grim day in Barcelona,

a terrorist attack that has claimed 13 lives, and left at least

several of the advice at the moment is to stay indoors whenever