BARCELONA: Barcelona on Friday marked the first anniversary of terror attacks that killed 16 people, though the divisive local issue of whether to pursue the region’s independence from Spain intruded on the proceedings in the Catalan capital.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and other government officials were among hundreds of people attending ceremonies in the northeastern city.
The commemorations included a flower-laying ceremony by the victims’ families on the famed Las Ramblas promenade, where a van mowed down scores of pedestrians. The van killed 14 and another victim was fatally stabbed.
Another person died of stab wounds in a separate attack the next day in nearby Cambrils, a seaside town where a separate ceremony was scheduled Saturday.
More than 120 people were injured.
The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State group. Spanish authorities say they dismantled the cell, with its members either killed in the operation or arrested.
Amid a heavy police presence Friday, a musical performance took place in the city’s broad Plaza Catalunya. Written behind the stage was the slogan: “Barcelona, city of peace.”
Political tension was also present, however, after weeks of uncertainty about whether the monarch and prime minister would attend the commemorations.
Catalan politicians demanding the wealthy region’s independence from Spain had initially indicated they would use the event to express their anger at the king and the head of Spain’s central government for denying them what they say is their right to self-determination, but they backed off from that threat.
A victims’ association, the Assembly for the Consideration and Valorization of those Affected by Terrorism, urged politicians to call “a truce” as a homage to those killed.