Van plows into crowd in Barcelona; police say crash a ‘terrorist attack’

BARCELONA: A white van jumped the sidewalk in Barcelona’s historic Las Ramblas district on Thursday, crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists and injuring several people, police said.

Police said they were dealing with a “terrorist attack” after a vehicle ploughed into a crowd of pedestrians on the city’s famous Las Ramblas boulevard on Thursday.

Police were clearing the area after the incident, which has left a number of people injured.

In a photograph shown by public broadcaster RTVE, three people were lying on the ground in the street of the northern Spanish city Thursday afternoon, apparently being helped by police and others. Videos of the scene recorded people screaming as they fled.

Police cordoned off the broad, popular street, ordering stores and nearby Metro and train stations to close. They asked people to stay away from the area so as not to get in the way of emergency services. A helicopter hovered over the scene.

Las Ramblas, a street of stalls and shops that cuts through the center of Barcelona, is one of the city’s top tourist destinations. People walk down a wide, pedestrianized path in the center of the street, but cars can travel on either side.

The Peninsula