inside the president of the catalonia region is apparently also breaking up his holiday to return to barcelona. and i think we can go to local journalist castro who's in barcelona cheering and was close to the events the terror attack as it was unfolding louise good evening to you can you describe just tell us what you know so far a bag this terror attack. well i the moment the police has a basically closed the whole entire area of the central park alone are we talking about the area called the luna which is one of the main tourist areas in the whole city there are easily thousands of people being evacuated from the area the police does not allow any press or anybody to go any close to the actual where they are not telling anyone exactly what's going on all we know so far is as you described things that we have seen on the social media from people that were actually at the

place when this happened we don't know why than crash into several people thousands of people in la rambla was just like the main road on these area and there are reports of some fatalities but we don't really know for sure what happened there are some very graphical videos on social media show the people on the floor of the law takes effect cetera some of the people as you mentioned in your report talking about a. gun shooting in here it's all very very long clear at the moment and obviously the police for security reasons does not allow anyone to either to go inside or speculate about the information so far yeah we also understand that there's a manhunt underway at the moment for the driver of that van and many metro stations and trying stations have been closed is that right to say this is in lockdown and can you just describe what may. these have been put in place yes exactly so i was

actually leaving the area just about a couple of hours before on the way back to the line number three which is the green one is being pretty much closed down maybe two in the fall for five stations about around these area so they're not stopping the line it's not fully closed but they are not stopping anywhere near these area i managed to arrive on the on the on the ground by another line which is still open but i mean it is very likely that they close it down as well from where i can see block like a saloon right now at the looniest where if you want to call it in english is that the road away is completely empty you can only see the police the light blue flashlight and only all then the road is completely empty so they have clearly closed down i would say easily about five the roads around the entire area that are several media already starting to pile up in the in the area just behind the where

nobody as they say it is to really allow the inside and they're not safe at all apparently according to what they say is to say any with me as close. any details on reports to men also went to a restaurant nearby a turkish rash from his what's being reported in local media. the situation is there any clarity on. what he has been saying right now as we speak a life full of motorbikes with police and an ambulance rushing into the area and two special police cars i guess because they that they know in a device as police that they had a flash blue flash light running into the luna as we speak as you might just have described if you do this a month on the moment something is still ongoing because the police does not seem to be really lacking. which are when something to happen in your to dealing with

the aftermath they are clearly appeal on going on to something that we are actually not really clear to in all right at the moment you describe it correctly but there are reports that talk about this restaurant like a balloon where apparently like. to be on a little be cleared up the moment and it will be a little bit weird well the fact that it was only a. gun shooting in a restaurant called the only play at the moment it all made being an actual a character we wrote not speculate at the moment whether or not we. yeah sure no of course we're right louise we'll leave it there finale to nationalise castro live from athlone are talking to us and i think we can add crossed live to partridge our europe correspondent kate can you update any further than just run

through what we know. what we know so far andrea is what we've been hearing from you guys is the fact to be the van crashed into a group of people in last ramblers in the center of barcelona catalonia and basically what we're getting now from the police there is one concern and over twenty people injured there are reports obviously social media is a hive of activity of people saying up to seven people are dead but so far from police only one person confirmed dead so far what we do know after that is that the perpetrator the driver of the van fled on foot and as we've been hearing he went into what looks like a turkish restaurant a bar restaurant where also the bin gunshots heard as well and we understand a hostage situation is under way there now the police we've seen videos coming through on social media of people living in the area where police have obviously told people to stay away stay in their homes they've shut everything down in terms of roads and the. metro and the trains as well but people have been filming out of

their windows and you can see the armed police going to the side streets to all of this restaurant as you said the police are actually very concerned that people don't give out any pictures on social media also people who have been injured have have died in this incident because obviously out of respect for the injured but we're getting such a stream of information coming through and also the police are very keen to say that they are now looking for a second van that they considered might have been used in this incident and that the perpetrator or perpetrators might have granted so that they could flee the scene that's the latest reports we're getting through from the police ok thanks kate was kate partridge there for speaking out of paris across this story and update you to there are media reports that claim this hasn't been confirmed that the van the driver of the van was wearing white clothing that had blue stripes he is thought to be around five foot six inches tall those are the reports we're hearing but potentially as an ongoing situation a hostage situation at

a cafe very hard to pin down exact facts and that is being reported and we're looking at the latest pictures from the central barcelona that a street where that van plowed into hundreds of tourists which were walking along the tourist area in the center of barcelona on the sunny evening when this horrific incident unfolded speaking to a witness earlier he was speaking to us here in r.t. said he just got out of a taxi just as all this was unfolding and saw a van man the pavement drive it great speed in his words up to perhaps eighty kilometers per hour before finally coming to a stop but obviously throwing many people into the air injuring many and it's thought at least one person has died but that man it is understood is now at large police have closed down the local metro networks going to ground stations presumably to try and have been in on the here and kept year. is what we. no

a moment but obviously problems for police because many people still have members of the public coming towards the area to see what's happened in they've cordoned off the area and telling many people to move away these are pictures we keep seeing from the center of barcelona but people are still being treated on the ground as well that much we can ascertain from the pictures we've seen recently. of course we'll keep across this for you throughout the evening now moving on germany's foreign minister has voiced opposition to the amount of money his country spends on nato and chancellor merkel's intention to raise the figure. germany must remain a peacemaker not become an machine toggle lections ought to oppose the militarization of foreign policy by donald trump and not submit to it as to my horror the c.d.u. and f.t.p. plan to do foreign minister saying that gabriel made it very clear that germany must not dance to trump's tune when it comes to the country's defense spending and

what he said actually is quite the opposite of what the chancellor angela merkel has been saying she's been in support of raising the country's military spending towards nato to two percent of the country's g.d.p. by the year twenty twenty four take a listen to exactly how she put it in the past that germany is far from the target of spending two percent of the national budget on the fans but it's very important that this year we increase that to one point two percent and wish to also place importance on defense in the future. in fact gabriel's party is one of the main rivals to merkel's christian democrats party in next month's election and want defense spending is one of the most pressing issues here in germany so far merkel has been avoiding this in the run up to the vote and it's not just defense spending like merkel has been avoiding other thorny issues as well as she chose to speak to tech and beauty bloggers at the

height of her campaign take a look at this package off out earlier anglo merkel should be feeling energized and fresh after her three week break in the italian alps but judging from her latest election campaigning looks like she's still in vacation mode the chancellor spent time talking politics with several young you tube celebrities here in germany one of them is a video blogger that specializes in german izing american pop hits another is a lifestyle blog where the shares her experiences and ventures with her viewers oh and there's also a fashion and beauty blogger. ok. this is. us and this is me in the quite nice outfit that protects my skin and how these beauty and tech bloggers were chosen to speak to merkel at the height of her campaign we don't know but hot political topics were brought up and the chancellor was cool calm and collected in her answers for how are there any plans

for electric cars and social. ok that's possible we need to create infrastructure which people to use electric equals how many people are currently free they will be able to get to work but home be able to get back home. and that's what is your favorite smiley the smile with a small heart on it i'm just going to go what have people was surprised that i a beauty blogger was chosen to conduct an interview with you many have said that my subscribers are not smart enough to ask the right questions there for that cause me think of them as it seems silly to me that some consider people from the beauty industry i'm able to make the right decision in the election this is absurd everyone is able to. my guns tellus honestly when you read donald trump's tweets with phrases like locked and loaded what do you think about it what comes into your head up at the thought of we should generally be careful with language of language is open a step towards escalation of violence i stand by all means against this. instead of

meeting with the legitimate media with people who are trained to detect when the politicians are playing games chess their mirco has a group of amateurs with whom she can play and that's what's happening here it reminds me of a prize fighter who is afraid to meet a real challenger it is the softest question and answer approach that she could face it is the i deal for a politician who wants to be a. smooth sailing for angela merkel there but it certainly won't be so easy when she faces off her main rival martin schulte in september you need them for everybody it should be clear what it means when a central government when the headquarters of a governing party systematically decide to reject the debate on the country's future when a party comes and says we do not have anything to do with this and we do not debate this during the election campaign and it is the arrogance of power nothing else the ladies and gentlemen you know. german broadcasters want to leave this side of the

bate so there's more room. for spontaneity allowing the two politicians to challenge each other more americans seem reportedly threatened to council so the broadcasters gave up there were forty five minutes provided for each block of the t.v. programme the chancellor's representatives did not agree with such dramatic changes and refused to participate under these conditions with campaigning in germany stepping up a gear before the election anglo-american seems to be making sure she's in the driving seat and the super r t. r k let's return to our breaking news this evening in the news the van has crashed into a crowd of people in the central spanish city of barcelona at least two people have reportedly been killed and several more injured in fact reports of up to twenty people have been injured some of them seriously this incident is being treated as a terror attack according to the police well it happened just over an hour or so

ago and listening to witnesses that have come on to our say this ban drove it speed up blast that around us which is. an area extremely popular tourist in fact hundreds of tourists with there at the time in the central pass alone or when this attack unfolded. he drove his fanny said up to speed to something like eighty kilometers an hour before crashing it the driver of that van then fled the scene and police are now hunting in the area has been put into lockdown and many metro stations and train stations around the area have been close as well we're looking at some of the latest pictures we've received. from the center of barcelona rule so full of shots being fired in a by marketeer why we haven't been able to. confirm that there's a further reports of. men entering a turkish restaurant near that i thought i'm going to say area and a hostage situation could be unfolding but again. these are some of the

latest pictures we're looking at or see from the central you can see a huge police presence than i was you would expect after this terror attack which took place just over an hour ago we can talk in more detail and i took weeks he's a terrorism expert. like doug thanks for coming on this evening. police have called it a terror attack and you couldn't really describe it as anything else could you. you know i think it's probably an accurate. on time and unfortunately we're seeing once a year. in these types of attacks that make it truly go from warrant trying here and there are i think there is a member. no i think at least find some central region they are extremely everybody involved not only for. them it's also the

region and east around in a more trying your. own neutral very quiet when someone can try to generalize. i'd also a very distant dangerous situation. at the moment because the driver of this band is still at large. yeah absolutely and this is certainly going to be a priority for him we are trying and find out where he is on over to me after him and some of the reports that have been circulating moved on social media and also some of the be used in the even that i've seen as suggesting that there are others. and one case two armed men have entered the restaurant we still don't know who was more about what you. may be additional or trying to already be to actually. what you saw. are in pursuit of the

driver of the main so there are still. being determined about this. is what the motivation. as you mentioned is stop bad we've seen this type of attack several times over the last few months. it seems very little can be done to prevent it would you think perhaps now you think things should lessen shipping the before. you know i think these types of attacks are so simplistic and you can that be a building in the authorities an action you know. isn't sure maryland gun control and less they have some. that suggests that leaves are mounted on fold and in many cases you can see why it almost made them just don't have them. and no matter how much. bombing tarring or. other methods that might be an oiler try air and listen to them on station and round internet traffic all

that the reality is is that they can still pull off an attack like this very successfully and remain under the radar and so they were meeting shortly and you get the orders to actually enter names and in terms of just pinpointing where the suspect is at the moment that must be very difficult isn't it in the center of a huge city. well absolutely and one of the challenges that the police and other emergency services there are will have in a situation like this is that even eyewitness accounts from people who are actually arm and see oftentimes in the situation is very quite. quite differently one personal will say why i saw somebody run this way and he was dressed and ready and thinking their way and then in that first might say oh no he

ran the other way and he was dressed in a completely different way so a lot of confusion that surrounds the attacks like this is something that needs the police after you try and we get through very very quickly and at the same time try and assign their resources and with the best information available to all who times that it's very difficult can you. show and i mean give the area reasonable doubt at the moment you would a shame that could be the case for many hours than perhaps a day or two we. are. perhaps i think the area will remain locked down actually it will now that perimeter and that they have established. from time. span comparing whether or not he will come up the apprehended and drone on and i extract that will be in the status quo for several hours to intel they have a better idea of exactly what it is that they're dealing with. that they have

mutual in some situation and have also. so i think that this remains a very dynamic marmont and i'm the police are clearly actively managing to the best of their ability but there are. difficulties and challenges in trying to manage and situation. coming on tonight to give us your expert analysis that was a. terrorism expert thank you. but we go live now to a local journalist. but at doha. emboss alone and i think we can contact him and i know this is coming that what further details have you got what we know so far. so what we know so far is there has been a massive problem on the center of left around us but we just have to recall that

there's an area where million experience at best buy every day what we know so far is that the the area i lead there is have to do. you know local in the city sent there. by the police doesn't want to. from terms this information and there are there are millions of videos going on of social media and they've asked she still staring down so that the police can do their you know basically at the moment the subways closed the main areas are closed in the center. they're now starting to let people leave the tops nearby. there are seeing. people from firm and that's all so far what eyewitness accounts have you heard you. say

that and i'm sorry have you heard from eyewitnesses have you had reports of what people actually saw all the time this attack was unfolding. yes there are some members of a different sort yes in the city center that has hurt. and that out loud crops and people have started screaming and running and basically a refugee in the nearby salt and there's massive heat in a massive so that hopefully. there's one member of one of the subs that can confirm that there are now starting to leave the nearby selves but the main area is disclosed to the whole population and just give us an idea of what this area is lot of people who don't know barcelona very well i mean this central street is thinking around packed it normally on any day of the week

never mind at the height for tourist season. if it's fully packed every day of the . year every day doesn't mater whether it's august very very smart there's millions of serious testing my dad and there are actually local of them go there because it's too many tourists in there. it has. peak subway and stand there and then use two small rolls for the car so there's around thousands of people in the street. every day and me and the whole year it's the heart of our thought on it connects the main square to the b.s. where it belongs to and so there's thousands of people he's going there and green that's not ready this. doesn't affect. many of these foreign countries because there's people from many different countries just passing by every day in their.

many people across europe have to live now with the threat of terrorism what sort of response would you expect from the authorities in spain to this. i i think. or get on that. you know i have this you do a chemise in spain there's. obvious contradiction between the cattlemen government and the spanish government but they in this case. the weekly say that they won't are going to cooperate they're going to work together and they're going to try. to stop these attacks in spain spain has him have. seen the big bombs in the matter and this is one of this and there's a bureau arm i believe the response would be. dot and. it's it's it's going to be hard for them. ok you leave it there for now we really

appreciate your time this evening that was you the seas is quite it though he's a local journalist in barcelona thank you thank you. i think we just hold on to those pictures just to remind you all of what's happened this evening just over an hour ago it's understood that a van plowed into many tourists hundreds of tourists that were just walking along one of the main streets in this century of barcelona they were mown down by this. great speed when the eyewitnesses i spoke to seem tell me that he believed it could be nice and think like it was traveling from eighty to one hundred kilometers per hour before eventually coming to a stop we know that two people have been confirmed dead although a local radio station is citing police sources and claiming that that number has risen to thirteen. many more people of course are injured we're looking at live pictures incidentally every now and again you can see. hordes of people being ushered away from the scene by police very heavy police presence now there now at

the moment in the area has been effectively in lockdown as you can see more people being at lead to safety there by police and we also think that a terrorist warning has now been activated in the city that the latest team because again this is unconfirmed but as this was unfolding after this band ran through hundreds of people. claim then entered a restaurant a nearby restaurant and a hostage situation could be there unfolding at the moment although the police haven't confirmed any think on that as yet. all right well let's. talk now to dan hawkins he's in the studio. one of several instances we've seen like this haven't we in recent months recent weeks of the calls being used to kill people in terrorist attacks. and it seems to be

a very similar modus operandi of just expert was saying just a few minutes ago the trend tragic trend began at the end of last year with the. attacks when trucks were used to plow into. the nice promenade killing eighty six people the christmas market attack killing twelve these are soft targets these review targets very rarely protected very well by security forces very little as our experts said can be committed to stop them they've continued into this year as well we've also seen them across europe in the stock home in london two attacks tragically west of the bridge in london bridge which were subsequently followed up by of course attacks on people who go to some live pictures there won't be as well from from the scene. probably really linked to the lockdown they're experiencing six hundred people here stuck in a cafe to get sure a shopping mall actually is nearby. what we're looking at now people being evacuated to

a shopping center being about kuwait at the moment and every now and again you can see just through that alleyway looking at a. few people being ushered away by police and you can see that camera that people say hiding in doorways to the area the center of that city now in lockdown because the van driver is. the moment there's a manhunt underway in the center of barcelona tonight after that terrorist attack in the center along the left that i'm the street where tourists from that band man to the pavement down hundreds dozens according to a witness we spoke to two of them being confirmed dead local media report perhaps that figure has risen to twelve that's the latest we have we back in three.

and book a little place called the. police a key key. i suppose. that in your heart it was ok to commit there were feared. such war and you don't want to die joyce and also to why he's still with you i think almost as you. isis militants are just chilling to patrol base on the left and right even this

compound. enemy troops so been spotted on the pulse of the rhythm. here in the only two groups of militants who have joined forces. those groups leaders have to clear their determination so an independent islamic state in the philippines have you. even after two months of such. keeps finding hidden weapons and explosives. not being up operations in areas where civilians used to live on a daily occurrence. not the nominee but the bundle like no other you know if you get my. walking dead. believe over the. it's a special says he does.

with r.t. international my name is you know neal good to have your company best saar we begin again with our breaking news story at least two people have reportedly been killed and several more injured after a violent crash into a crowd of pedestrians in the center of barcelona the incident which police are treating us terror related happened in the let's run less tourist area now to run five in the evening barcelona please be warn the images we're about to show you from this scene are highly disturbing. i. think.