Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Everyone get inside
Journalist was in heart of strip when terrorists struck Cops take tourists to safety as panic grips popular district
ULSTER journalist Alana Fearon who escaped yesterday’s terror attack has given a heartbreaking account of the moments following the atrocity.
Alana Fearon, editor of the Mirror’s sister website Dublin Live, was in Barcelona’s busy strip when she was caught up in the attack.
She said: “We saw lots and lots of tourists running down Las Ramblas, which is obviously the busiest area in Barcelona.
“We thought initially it was pickpockets – it sounds pathetic now but it all happened so quickly.
“We saw up to 13 police vans, riot police, flying past us.
“They were hanging out of the doors and were heavily armed with rifles. We were sitting at one of the bars in the middle of the strip.
“Everyone was asking, ‘What happened?’ There were no ambulances initially. A police car came up.”
It was then the Co Armagh journalist was rushed into a restaurant where the shutters were pulled down as the city centre went into lockdown.
She stayed there for hours, just a few hundred metres from the Turkish restaurant where it was initially feared the terrorists were hiding out.
Alana, who had been on her way to the airport, added: “Police came from all angles and took everybody into shops. A policeman with a megaphone was hanging out of the door and telling everyone to get inside.
“We were put inside the bar where we’re staying and the shutters were put down. Everyone was very upset.
“We were initially very, very scared as we were supposed to be in Placa de Catalunya.
That’s where the airport bus goes from, so it’s a very busy square. But we decided to sit on and get a taxi so we didn’t go up to it.
“Police in high-vis vests and bulletproof covers were walking up and down the strip.
“I honestly can’t explain how amazing the bar staff have been – they took us inside and made sure we were safe. We were allowed outside for 20 minutes but then we were told to get back inside. Outside was like a ghost town and normally L as Ramblas is like Temple
Bar on a Saturday night. We are absolutely horrified but all we could see were bodies. We were supposed to be there on that airport bus but we missed it, which feels like such a selfish thought.
“My thoughts are with everyone who was killed or injured in this senseless attack.” Another Irish holidaymaker Joanne Byrne spoke about the panic that spread through the city after the attack while she was on a bus tour.
The 23-year-old told the Mirror: “I got a text from friend asking me if I was OK and I didn’t know what she was talking about.
“Then someone on the bus said something about a machine gun and everybody started to panic.
“It was then I realised that if there was someone with a gun that we were on the top of an open-top bus and would be sitting ducks.
“So I started to panic and look for places to lie down on the floor.” Joanne, from Co Carlow, described the scenes as panicked crowds ran away from the district.
She said: “People started running down the street.
“As they were running people were falling over – some people just kept running right over them but some people did stop to help.
“It was then we were told to get off the bus and I started to worry because I had no idea where to go.
“Eventually we found our way away from the area but all the trains and busses were cancelled and we were left stranded. I got back to my flat – it was horrible. I have never been that scared in my life.”
Meanwhile, it was claimed the CIA had warned Spanish police that Las Ramblas could be a potential target for terrorists.
Yesterday’s van attack was the latest such atrocity, following a wave of similar outrages across Europe.
The worst was in Nice, France, in July last year when Mohamed Lahouaiej-bouhlel, 31, drove a rented cargo lorry into crowds celebrating
Bastille Day, killing 86 and wounding more than 458.
It was copied in the UK, when Khalid Masood, 52, killed six pedestrians with his rented car on Westminster Bridge in Central London in March this year before stabbing a police officer to death outside the Houses of Parliament.
The following month a hijacked truck was deliberately driven into crowds in Stockholm, Sweden, killing five and injuring 14 others. In June three attackers drove a hired van into crowds London Bridge, smashing into victims before the jihadists jumped out and went on a stabbing frenzy, in an atrocity which killed eight and injured 48.
Last week a BMW rammed a group of soldiers in Paris injuring six of them, three seriously.
And last night intelligence sources warned vehicle ramming attacks could become more prevalent.
We are horrified. All we could see were dead bodies. ALANA FEARON BARCELONA YESTERDAY