it's really damage limitation once the attack has begun they're very difficult to prevent once they begin and in terms of casualty figures as we've said you know the official confirmation now is one dead thirty two injured but just a few moments ago that was as many as twelve thirteen killed so really we just don't know the diamonds until a few hours time you know we don't we will of course get into. the ins and outs of who who carried this out in the coming hours for now we don't know much about that but we have done we sat here before you and i and we spoke about islamic propaganda saying islamic state trying to get people who are affiliated not necessarily. members of the groups to carry out attacks around the world and we see it particularly when they're getting squeezed in iraq and in syria and this we see a live shot but we'll talk about more of that in the coming hours of course but for now don thank you very much. you know we've been getting a lot of witness testimony all this. his window.

i spoke to earlier he had this to say. i listen to the noise of. people screaming then i went to the boat and i saw. those. who were in the floor i saw the local. police. from everywhere and. the ambulances but for some woman when i were here he was. very. well europe is in the holidays and. there were many many people here is full of people all day now where they see all the year but especially in august so it was a lot of people it was very crowded. local journalist john mike was also in the

region and i believe you're able to join us live. yet what did you see bring us up to date with what was happening there when you were there. hi yes that is this natalie from barcelona and i actually just got close to the site here i'm on plus okinawa now which is really close by it's maybe one hundred meters from. there which is where the attack took place so yeah i'm just getting here and there's a lot of cops you can sort of hear a lot of ambulance. and yeah people are just like pretty much very stressed out i see a lot of tourists that can't get back to their hotels and they're all pretty confused and scared that is the situation isn't it you've got a lot of people in that region trying to get back to their friends their family to their hotels how easy or otherwise is it for them to get back away from that area are there a lot of streets closed for instance yet so

a lot of the streets. and the streets are closed and yeah the metro stations next to here are closed as well. and yeah some people are still trapped and so i actually have a friend that was on a bus going down when this whole thing happened and he's still inside one of the bars and they're not letting anyone in. out of the place so far not only if possible could you actually move to the vice just to give us perhaps a pun a rama view of what we're seeing right now the lie of scenes very we appreciate to our tour viewers that of course it's not the clearest of pictures what we're seeing there of course police talking to perhaps investigators other. people in the region the street does look close. we're seeing i believe just on the outskirts of it where in the knuckly is lots of people of course in

their buildings on there for around this looking out people would have seen this and spoke to some eyewitnesses on their balcony who heard and also sold the car so this is a live pictures now in the tell me it is a local journalist from barcelona she's giving us just a view of what we're seeing right now what is happening in the region a lot of people trying to get back to their family their friends to their hotel away from the area of course to tell you thank you very much for that just now it doesn't look as if things are calming down. the forty's have a better control of what's happening we know that a lot of people were being taken to the hospitals. right. yeah if you can hear me and we believe doesn't look as if things are coming down now with the ambulances taking people to hospitals we know that there were a lot of emergency services in the what is this one of the what's the situation like there is there a sense of calm there are there still people rushing around and. yeah i know sorry

i can't hear you very well but yes there are still a lot of tourists i think trying to get back to their hotels a lot of people just trying to find family and. and i just spoke to an older lady whose daughter is working inside which is this big shopping mall. just behind me here close to she's waiting for her daughter to come out so yeah people are still trying to find their family and friends start trying to get back home safely. not play thank you very much for showing us for giving us a glimpse of picture of what the situation is there right now i thank you nothe lee don't like the local journalist in barcelona joining me live now is political analyst nick. to put some meat on the bones of what we have been seeing over the past couple of hours in barcelona nic thanks for standing by there we appreciate we've getting a lot of local analysis there are local reports so thank you. does the fact that it was a violent attack indicate who may have been responsible we're just looking at pictures

all of the von coming into focus now it looks like to be in a rental bot. we can't say anybody could use a rattle around today of course i mean the real we're not a finger pointing right now because it's maybe probably a islamists because these past weeks months abruptly years we've been having regular attacks whether this be and burning with trucks in paris and asked week against against military i know that the largest sort of video has released the name of one of the persons implicated and his name is it is actually has been how did he drifts kavya and he could be implicated so the decision of this is been released by the throat spanish newspaper el pais and he could be the one who rented the van did he do this for religious beliefs we don't know as a source not as this we don't know yet but of course i mean a lot of people will be thinking about an islamist terror at that at this moment now we still of course have to get more information from the police before we start

concluding on this you know absolutely but we can just talk all night last point you made because we know nic that spain has a being targeted like. a lot of other european countries by islamist terrorists could it not be coming target. has there has been one great attack against of madrid train station several years ago and since then of course we think we have not heard of of attacks is coming i think people have to open their eyes each week perhaps at these pat two weeks ago it was true and you asked me to france this week spain i think no european country and we're talking about europe but there are similar attacks elsewhere in the mcgrath in the middle east and no country can say it's safe from such an attack today so this is widespread unfortunately each month we're discovering that this can happen in a new country in a new place in a new town so this is. the number the mayor said the chance that we had to get used

to this the french president read all my posts of the same thing and unfortunately they seem to be right. we have been hearing from witnesses saying that they believe that the authorities bill in says emergency services were quick on the scene do you think that spineless police and authorities are prepared for a terror instance indeed like a lot of other countries around europe that this is now the new reality they have to be ready for something that best to occur i think if they have to be pretty sure they don't have the means they don't have your organization and it is quite difficult i mean can you imagine the millions of cars who are running in the streets of the world and have special means for any given location space i think it's extremely difficult if they have arrived on the screens that are on the scene that means are quite well organized or this is also the center the most touristic part of barcelona it's very difficult how do you fight how do you stop someone jamming is ramming his van and truck

a vehicle in the crowd this is extremely difficult but they do have to be prepared to think they have to be prepared to arrive on location as quick as possible of course to stop the criminals are the terrorists as soon as possible if there are so alive and of course to bring to vacuity the people to give them medical help to remount to hospitals and there will be more and more training within the different police as in europe and military of course reacts to such attacks because they are becoming more than common three attacks in three weeks yes looking about europe yeah it's incredible it was one of the big debates after something u.s. happens especially in the country that you're in france and we saw as well as in germany is the debate about what should be done in very busy terroristic areas more bollards for instance do you try and make more areas pedestrian only valid tax as you say are becoming increasing can they be stopped. but they can't be stopped i

mean i think a terrorist want to use once he's motivated once he has reached that degree where as he's ready to kill himself will kill others he will always find around a way around the rule terrorists used to hijack planes they don't hijack planes then they start going out on trains with special of chemicals in their shoes they told us to take our shoes off before entering the planes and the terrorists don't do that they ran their vehicles in city centers so they will always find a means i don't think that's the correct way of course probably but for safety in some very big regions regions where there are people out in the streets it would be safe to protect them from vehicles but that's not the answer the answer isn't the root of society there is a problem with radical islam drug there's a problem with extremism globally and that is that's the that's the answer is to tackle those fronts make sure these people are stopped before they commit these attacks or that we prevent them from getting access to such. information on the groups which would show which are in favor of these over these radical attacks but

terrorists will always find i mean so just putting police cameras i mean cameras policeman behind every citizen is not the answer to fight terrorism terrorism has to be at the root and in this cause if it's an ideology behind his attacks that ideology has to be accommodated and that's that has to that's a civil matter that's a police matter and that's a matter for all of the all nations in the world just about their logistics about what we're seeing as you were talking there how do police and security forces go by closing down a live scene of such basing this to ensure safety. well there's coordination between the police as you know i mean a place at the wrong as there is a policeman already walking doing their duty and you've got also policemen who are undercover fighting against pickpockets or maybe even working to see there's something specific going on at particular around there coordinated they have local coordination the communicate but what is difficult is when you have such an

incident incident you don't always know what's going on even to propose a policeman on the scene you don't know if that person was driving in the vehicle it's you alone have other people left when you hear a noise is that related to that incident if you hear a sound could that be a firecracker or an accident it could have you been going on so it is extremely difficult to police and once they arrive the first thing that they want to do is clear the scene clear the scene to make sure that first of all the unfortunately the dead or the wounded only lying down to make sure that they can have access to first say so emergency help and then what is going on what is happening situation are other still terrorists on the run i mean i've been following the today's incident and the like the other ones we don't know how many people at this hour how many people are implicated is that person who was driving the van off of the gun or who are several persons we don't know so they definitely have a role to permit or one of that accident has happened and can be sure that the night industry so barcelona all ears are on within the police to make sure that if

anything suspicious is going on they will be able to communicate and say we may have something related to tonight's incident you know that that's a very important point to make is now that we don't know whether it's coordinated here at this stage like we have seen in the past particularly and parse in previous . terror attacks. what happens now in other major european cities do you think that security is going to be heightened and tightened on it's going to be much more difficult for people to get a ride in this tourist season. that is possible to do that a pro outpost titian's will probably want to show they're doing something about the reality is that all of the budgets concerning defense policy for the or the police are going down so you cannot just invent new brigades from one day to the other you can't just close down streets from one day to know that for all the cities of europe or in the world because that costs a lot of money that for me i do think that a lot of politicians will want to show their muscle they want to reassure the

populations they want to show that they're doing something but you can't just snap your fingers and i think it's very important and unfortunately in europe in any case we don't see i would say the strategy of a lot of countries and what do they really want to do against terrorism what is their strategy because it's easy between predeceased to react the day after or in the same date night of the eiffel tower say we pray with such a city and cetera but what are we going to do what are they going to do to make sure that this is not repeat what are these actions that we're not seeing this so of course the populations want this i'm sure that all the policeman want this but what is going to be done and that is that king and there's no country i mean practically no country in western europe in western europe europe which has shown a strategy same i have a different strategy concerning attacking terrorism at its roots and making sure that terrorist ideas are not totally gated making sure that cities are safe making sure that my police different polices are correct communicating well with intelligence services no western country has yet to there is such

a strategy which is convincing and which is working so i think this is what the citizens this is the pressure citizens have to put on the politicians so we see what the strategy is because it's not just lighting up the eiffel tower or sharing pray for such a city which is going to change anything yeah i worry in summary there from political analyst nicolette murphy to make a thank you very much for your take this hour. let's just get a recap of our breaking and soul news this hour catalan police have not said with a. in the past twenty minutes or so that one person has been killed thirty two more injured after a crushed into a crowd of pedestrians in the center of barcelona a warning that the pictures you're seeing are russian local media reports suggest there are multiple other talents he's we are awaiting those numbers will bring to you when we know more at b. instead which is being treated as terror late it happened in the last with less

tourist area to run five in the evening local time so iran two and a half hours ago please be warned the images again whereby to shore highly disturbing. what we believe a rental van through five hundred meters done the pedestrian a stretch of road in a runway is only around a kilometer wide so would have built up considerable speed by the time it hit people the driver of the vehicle is said to a fled the scene and is reportedly armed and hold off in

a bar in the area police also say that fifty six people have been taken to hospital after the attack people are being of ice to avoid the the city center stage inside go to hotels but do not go back to las ramblas region go the opposite direction is what police are saying this is as you're saying well happier times on this photo here at love around the streets on the last from this region a busy very busy tourist area particularly in. all get a lot of people on holidays from across europe across the world one of europe's most popular sites lots of cathedrals lots of art galleries lots of restaurants people sitting on pedestrian eyes regions in the main middle section on either sides of the streets susan are souvenir shops bars coffee is absolutely a square is also where it's linked to but the scenes now we're seeing we believe is

the white rental van which was used front of it obviously you well damage so you can just imagine the speed at it hit the people out more pictures in focus there coming into this house we speak and police of course carrying on the investigation and getting people out of the way of course people who were injured trying to get them to hospital we heard earlier reports the people that were dead were moved to one side one confirmed dead and then other people were taken preference to get them in the hospital so that their lives may be saved well we've been speaking to a number of journalists a number of locals in the area but what they saw what they heard this is a squared oh he told us what he saw. well we have to recall that there's this area where million tourists have passed by every day it's fully packed every day of

the year every day. whether it's. martha. passing by. actually local go there because she. has. there and then too small for the car to there's. thousands of people in that street. every day and millions in the whole year it's the fourth one that connects the main square to the beach where i am so there's thousands of people who's going there green nationality if that doesn't have. many of you because there's people are many different. every day in there. ok we can try to get the latest from barcelona from a local journalist louis castro who was on the program a little bit earlier. from what you're seeing now has the situation.

just describe what's going on. we may have lost our us there is a delay on the line we'll try and go back to that the local journalist louis castro i was speaking of a little bit earlier just an issue with the line perhaps you can hear me now this is union in moscow. can hear you i can hear you yeah yeah please just describe the situation i. can see really know him barcelona this a little bit of. known unknown known situation for most of the tour is like hundreds and probably thousands of tourists around this area one of the main

attraction areas in the whole cd or barcelona already heard from all the records is been said van crash into several people in the rambler the radio which is one of the main squares at the moment the police has completely blocked the entire area pretty much but you can say about five fires seeks a squares around catalonia ok other when you're scared if you prefer in english by clear at the top of the road you can actually see some live the most of them ambulance medical services the police security service and i would say that you can definitely say that the area is been completely evacuated by now however it's been a constant for the last hour to see a lot of police cars rushing around the area seems like something to still develop in there been

a speculations at turkish restaurant he's been taken by some of the people that executed this attack today these are unconfirmed reports there are several helicopters flying around you probably can hear them right now there's no one that i can show you right at the second but however you can see a lot of movement are seen something is still developing and this is by far not steal something completely finish your list one of the aspects that you touched upon there was that perhaps they live active hostage situation. perhaps with the people who were driving the van or maybe a coordinated attack what do we know you mentioned the turkish restaurant has that been confirmed. i cannot say that it has been fully confirmed the speculation to be had been here there's still collating on the social media on the web which is probably the only

media that had direct access a scene when it happened there are several videos that you can see people on the street like people laying on the floor spread all around some people said that they heard a gun shooting in a turkish restaurant in the other wing about no ne he. said there are a lot of speculation at the moment but you can you can tell that the police is not allowing any media whatsoever to cross this line that you can see behind me so all of us reporters are basically sidelining behind the bars just to hear from people coming now what they have seen what they have said what they have heard but there is absolutely no confirmation official confirmation from anybody government or the police whatsoever yeah just the scenes that we're looking at as you're talking louis it is quite extraordinary one of the busiest tourist areas not only in europe but in the world and it's almost deathly quiet perhaps that's never been seen before at any time of day like that quite extraordinary louis castro live from

barcelona thank you for that update. ok well just to recap indeed put some more flesh on what lewis was saying this is our breaking news story this hour police have now confirmed one person is dead thirty more injured after a van crashed into a crowd of pedestrians in the center of barcelona local media reports suggest there are multiple all their fate tallaght sees the incident which is being treated as terrorism happened in the last of the lists truest area of iran and five in the evening local time coming up to run and three hours ago. to be warned the images were about to show are disturbing.

well as out situation keeps going with i'm going to bring both the hospital and they the people who are injured being being helped the talk now as why this occurred who had political analyst john boston which as you can see joins me now on the program possibly to give some thoughts on that hi there why do you think spain is being targeted now if it is confirmed to be a terrorist attack. you know. if you put this attack in in there in cold terms the death toll although although there are people dead is relatively low and if this were

a well coordinated attack the death toll could be much higher although the incident is not yet over. i think we need to wait a little bit before we can determine whether or not this is a single random attack or link to other events that have been happening across europe over the past few months. i am one of the aspects when we're trying to put some meat on this as to who carried a diet of course fingers being banned islamic terrorists from what we saw on other european cities and into global areas across the globe this past twelve months in particular but also. what about domestic terrorism we know at was active in barcelona of course for many years the whole issue of catalan independence. is that an aspect to this cut it may well you know anything is still possible this is a very early stage of the game one of the names that has come up has been linked to morocco there is a past past colonial history there there is of course the issue of barcelona next

independence although i don't i don't see any clear connection to this to this event i think in cases like this it's most important just that the media serve to identify the issue and assist the public in getting out of the area because many terrorist attacks are based on drawing people to the area after initial attacks and then causing much much more serious losses of the right yeah i think that is very much with authorities have been trying to do we're looking at pictures us who are speaking on all valid lot of st louis and one of the busiest areas not only of barcelona but of spain at a lot of people can't even get back to their old tales are being told to go the opposite way on the issue of authority spanish police do you think they were prepared for something like this to happen today in the height of summer do you have to be that all european police today are on are on a high alert for terror attacks we've had

a string of events they've been going across much of the e.u. and and i would have to say that my experience traveling in the area is that is that police are on high alert this question really in high density areas so i think that we may find out later that. the death toll was probably reduced by the fact there are police present and of that the that the relative safety of the of the citizens and tourists in the area is improved by the fact there are so many police in the area is there a sense of helplessness here that when somebody has it in their idea that they want to get into a car avan. and ram into a group of people that it's very hard to stop at that stage that house to be altered before the act when somebody has this minute ality how do you stop that well you know in the united states after the federal building incident when so many

people were killed there you found that across the united states for example all major public buildings had pylons erected in front of them all major pedestrian walkway is head traffic blocks so that cars couldn't access this creates unfortunately we might be. seeing the same thing happening or happening across europe but unfortunate or not governments everywhere need to take care of this issue and they need to prevent access to vehicles and there's no reason why major pedestrians are affairs with thousands of people on them can't be secured by impassable barriers to vehicular traffic what that would mean is that terror incidents with then be wrists treated to well organized well coordinated groups that had much much more deadly means including explosives bombs automatic weapons and so on so i think that's incumbent on all very it's very sorry to have to admit

it but it's incumbent upon all governments in europe at least that these security measures have to be undertaken and and from there on in it if it escalates to higher death tolls with more the. say more fire power and bomb power then you're going to have to see. an increase in restrictions on civil liberties as people will have to be searched and so on this is a really of course depressing scenario for anybody living in europe jonna i'm sure you're free familiar with the area and quite shocked just by the pictures that we're looking at for such an incredibly busy area full of locals tourists had most parts of the year particularly in august it is quite striking just to see empty streets on less from less. there's also people who live there of course as well as tourists it must be a muscle of security operation to go up by pillows ing don

a live scene when i was you mention is well it's not over yet we don't know if the people of this attack have been opera handed but it must be an incredible project to try and ensure a safety at such a scene. i have been fortunate in not being present myself that any terror attack of this type i've spent quite a bit of time on front lines during war time and in war zones but i can assure you that if the security forces and if the citizens coordinate safety can be secured to a very high degree i would suggest that we don't have any option in europe anymore but to raise the security level but to do it in a manner that that that doesn't impede the freedom of people i'm not a person their own speaking for myself here i'm not a big fan of security cameras everywhere having you be tracked wherever you go i do think that restricting our.