Madrid Stuck in the Past with Idea of Unity above All Else – Catalan MEP

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Barcelona, protesting the apparent desire of the Catalan government to create an independent state. Days before, hundreds of thousands had marched in support of the push for secession. An unrelenting Madrid, unwilling to let any of this happen, is ready to prevent Catalonia from becoming independent. Will it come to the use of military force? Is the drive for independence strong enough to overcome all the obstacles? We ask Josep-Maria Terricabras, member of the European Parliament for the Republican Left party of Catalonia.

Defying Madrid: Catalonia's Independence Referendum

The World This Week: Power Play in Barcelona, May's Brexit Speech

Thousands Join Anti-Terror March in Barcelona

An estimated half-million people gathered in Barcelona on Saturday in a rally against terrorism.

It comes a week after two Islamist militant attacks in Catalonia left 15 people dead.

Holding placards and banners which read "I am not afraid", the march was led by emergency workers, shopkeepers and residents of the city's Las Ramblas boulevard, where a van was deliberately driven into pedestrians.

Tariq Ramadan: As Muslims Condemn Spain Attack, Americans Must Denounce U.S. Killings in Syria, Iraq

Spanish police are continuing to investigate last week’s attack in Barcelona, where 15 people died after a van plowed into a crowded walkway along Las Ramblas—the city’s most famous avenue. On Monday police shot dead the man suspected of driving the van: a Moroccan-born, 22-year-old named Younes Abou-Yaqoub. Police believe he was part of a 12-person cell plotting to carry out a series of bomb attacks. Eight of the cell’s members are now dead, four suspected members have been detained. The events of the past week have shocked many in the Barcelona region. On Sunday, thousands of Muslims, including many from Morocco, marched against violence in Barcelona, chanting, "Islam is peace" and "not in my name." We speak to Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. Ramadan was named by Time Magazine as one of the most important innovators of the twenty-first century. In 2004, Tariq Ramadan accepted a job at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, and Time magazine listed him among the top 100 thinkers in the world. But nine days before Ramadan was set to start teaching here in the United States, the Bush administration revoked his visa, invoking a provision of the PATRIOT Act that allows the government to deny entry to non-citizens who "endorse or espouse terrorism."

Lawrence: Donald Trump Responds To Barcelona Terror Attack With A Lie | The Last Word | MSNBC

Lawrence O'Donnell reacts to President Donald Trump's newest lie about fighting terrorism, as well as top Republican senator Bob Corker saying Donald Trump lacks the "stability" and "competence" to be president.

Spain Attacks: Bigger Attacks Were Planned, Police Say – BBC News

The Barcelona and Cambrils attackers had been planning bigger attacks than the ones they carried out, police have said.

Catalan police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told a press conference officers believed the group had been preparing the attacks at a home in Alcanar. But an explosion in the house on Wednesday, which killed one person, wounded seven and destroyed material they were planning to use in the attacks, meant they had to carry them out in a "more rudimentary way", Mr Trapero said.

The four people arrested include three Moroccans and one Spanish national, police have said.

None of them had a criminal history relating to terrorism, police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told a press conference. Three were arrested in the village of Ripoll and one in the town of Alcanar, where the house at the centre of the investigation exploded on Wednesday night. The youngest person arrested was 21, while the others were 28, 34 and 27 years old, Mr Trapero said.

'I Saw a Lot of Blood' - Barcelona Attack Eyewitness to RT

13 dead & more than 30 injured in a “massive crash” involving a van in Barcelona's city center, local police have confirmed. Authorities have called the incident a “terrorist attack.”

Barcelona: 13 Killed as Van Rams Crowds in Las Ramblas - BBC News

A van has ploughed into pedestrians in Barcelona's famous Las Ramblas tourist area, killing 13 people and injuring more than 100. Spanish police have described it as a terror attack.

ISIS Claims Responsibility for Barcelona Terror Attack

Aug. 17, 2017 - 1:28 - Catherine Herridge reports from Washington

Shock of Barcelona Terror Attack Resonates throughout Spain

Aug. 17, 2017 - 2:40 - The Wall Street Journal's John Bussey says Thursday's attack echoes the 2004 Madrid train bombings

Barcelona: Police Confirms One Dead, 32 Injured, 10 Seriously – BBC News

Barcelona Attack: Police Found a Passport in Van Belonging to Spanish National with Arabic Surname

Barcelona: Van Hits Crowds on Ramblas Tourist Area- BBC News

Spain: Vegan Activists Use Their Bodies to Protest Meat Industry

WIKI: Veganism

Splitting Spain? Catalans Rally ahead of Sunday Regional Elections

The streets of Barcelona, right now, are filled with thousands who've gathered to again call for their region's independence from Madrid's control. It's the last day of campaigning ahead of Sunday's vote which could, in the long run, change the map of Spain. RT's Anastasia Churkina is at the rally.

Spanien: Kussdemo gegen Papstbesuch
WELT ONLINE: Mehrere schwule Pärchen haben in Barcelona gegen den Papst-Besuch von Benedikt XVI. und die Diskriminierung von Schwulen demonstriert

Zum Video >>>

Nonsense and Dhimmitude from Cristina Odone: It's Not In Our Interest to Ban the Burka
TELEGRAPH BLOGS – CRISTINA ODONE: Religious tolerance – and I mean of Muslims, too – is not only right, it is in our interest. When I read that Barcelona has become the latest European city to ban the burka in civic buildings, I shudder. Is there a faster way to create an “us” against “them” mentality? There are 300,000 (out of a population of 1.5 million) Muslims in Barcelona. Their reaction to such diktats will be twofold: resentment with an attendant sense of victimhood; and further segregation of women. Given that they will no longer be able to ensure their wives’ and daughters’ modesty (as they see it), Muslims may keep them behind locked doors.

An outcome to cheer about? Of course not. And Britons should be congratulating themselves for not having embarked on similar measures here.

Perhaps one of the reasons Britain has been spared the burka ban is that many non-Muslims have experienced intolerance, and decided they don’t like it. Once you hear that a BA employee and an NHS nurse were stopped from wearing a crucifix to work because such expressions of faith are inappropriate in our multicultural society, the appetite to ban a religious symbol wanes. Read on and comment >>> Cristina Odone | Saturday, September 19, 2010

Al hamdu lillah! Attitudes Harden in Liberal Barcelona towards Wearing Islamic Dress
Hostility in Barcelona towards Islamic dress can manifest itself as verbal abuse. Photo: The Times
THE TIMES: She walks through the narrow streets in the beating summer sun, covered from head to toe in a black burka, with only her eyes and nose showing through a niqab. In front her two daughters wear bright red versions of the same Islamic garb, save for their faces peeping out for the world to see.

But these are not the streets of Islamabad or Kabul, rather Barcelona — supposedly one of the most liberal, anything-goes places in Europe. This is the city with one of the biggest gay communities on the Continent. It was where Picasso and Dalí learnt their craft and it plays host to the antics of the avant-garde theatre troupe Fura dels Baus.

However, when pressed on the question of the right to wear the veil, the mood is rather less laid-back. A passer-by in the street shouts at the Muslim woman: “Why don’t you stand up for women? You are prisoners of men.”

Beyond the jibes the attitude in Spain’s second city towards the niqab or the face-covering burka appears to be hardening.

Last week, Jordi Hereu, the Socialist Mayor, announced that it would be the first large city in Europe to ban the the full veil in public buildings. Anyone in a burka or niqab will be unwelcome in council offices, libraries or state kindergartens. Read on and comment >>> | Saturday, June 19, 2010

It is becoming increasingly obvious that many European countries such as Belgium, Switzerland, Spain and France are prepared to take a stand against women being enslaved and suppressed by their husbands, religion, and culture. It is such a pity that the mealy-mouthed British, the spineless British perhaps more accurately, cannot make a stand for the rights of women, and fight for their Judeo-Christian civilization. It would appear that the British are prepared to allow the culture of the desert to supersede the culture of the greatest civilization that this world has ever known: Judeo-Christian civilization. – © Mark

THE TIMES: Barcelona bans burkas from public spaces: Barcelona became the first big Spanish city to ban the use of the Islamic veil in public spaces. Jordi Hereu, the city’s mayor, signed a decree banning the burka and niqab in council buildings, crèches and libraries. >>> Graham Keeley, Madrid | Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Spanish Court Says Calling Your Boss a 'Son of a Bitch' Is Fine
THE TELEGRAPH: A Spanish court has ruled that calling your boss a "son of a bitch" is not grounds for sacking.

A judge in Barcelona said the slight was so common in arguments that it should not be considered a big insult.

The case related to an unnamed worker who directed the comment at his boss during a pay dispute in the northeastern city of Gerona in Jan 2008.

The worker, who also called his boss "crazy," was promptly fired. The man lost a first court challenge, but won on appeal with the Superior Court.

The ruling said his dismissal was a disproportionate punishment and the worker was entitled to be reinstated or receive £5,700 compensation.

Judge Sara Maria Pose Vidal said: "Without a doubt, both expressions are insulting.

"[But] the social degradation of language has caused the expressions used by the plaintiff to become commonly used in certain settings, especially in arguments." [Source: The Telegraph] | Wednesday, September 16, 2009