A year to the day since the terrorist attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils left sixteen dead and 130 injured, Joan Miró's mosaic of La Rambla in Barcelona has once again been turned into a shrine in tribute to the victims and their families.
Miró meant his colourful mosaic on La Rambla to welcome visitors arriving to the city, but last year it was turned into a site of mourning and remembrance as the place where Younes Abouyaaqoub ended his macabre journey, after mowing down dozens of innocent people with his rented van. Abouyaaqoub then escaped on foot, killing another person in order to steal their car. Another woman died later in the day when the terrorist and his gang continued their violence in nearby Cambrils.
Some of the florists of the popular promenade, the most frequented in the Catalan capital, admitted that it was "hard" to lift the blinds on their shops this morning. "There are no words to describe that day," they said. However, they also wanted to emphasize that "the entire city came together and showed its full support".
From ten o'clock this morning, relatives and friends of the victims along with representatives of the authorities - King Felipe and Queen Letizia; the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez; the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau and the President of the Generalitat, Quim Torra - paid tribute to those killed or injured in the attack before thousands of people, led by the parents of three-year-old Xavi who lost his life in the attack, filed past the shrine, leaving toys, flowers, letters and candles.
Barcelona's mayor, Ada Colau, said the city would "never forget the victims" and added that although the terrorists had managed to do them harm, they had not "spread their hatred" and urged the people of the city to demonstrate "once again" that the Catalan capital is a "city of peace".
There have also been those who have displayed banners, such as the members of the Yamaat Ahmadia of Islam community in Spain, with the motto, in Catalan and Spanish, "love for all, hatred for no one".
One of its spokespersons, Khawar Khaliel Malik, said they had come to the Rambla to show their support for the victims and because they are against "terrorist acts and any type of violence."
