Right after the attack, SKY news reported that two armed men had entered a Turkish bar in Barcelona’s city center and had taken hostages, though a media freeze has been put on that report.
Police have warned people not go to the area around Barcelona’s Placa Catalunya, one of the city’s main squares at the top of the , and requested the closure of nearby train and metro stations.
Reports say that the driver of the van fled on foot after ramming down dozens of people which took place near two kosher restaurants, Maccabi Restaurant, an Israeli-kosher grill and a falafel store named Maoz. Police have ordered Maccabi Restaurant to stay closed indefinitely as a security measure.
“It was quite terrifying, all of a sudden scores of people ran towards us, hysterical, children hysterical… first of all they said someone had been shot. All of a sudden a second wave of people came down the street, we just ran, I lost my husband in the melee. The shops went into lock-down mode.” witnesses told Sky News.
“We really had no idea what was going on other than that we needed to get ourselves out of there very quickly… there was just hundreds of people running away very quickly.”
