A CEREMONY took place on La Rambla on Wednesday morning to commceremonia antentadoemorate the victims of the jihadist attack that took place on the boulevard five years ago.

Victims and relatives of the 16 people killed in attacks carried out in Barcelona and the nearby town of Cambrills laid white carnations while a cellist played the traditional Catalan song, ‘El cant dels ocells’ (‘The Song of the Birds’). 

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Ceremony for the victims of Barcelona’s terrorist attack in 2017. Image Ayuntamiento de Barcelona

Also in attendance were officials from across the different administrations and political spectrum including Catalan regional president Pere Aragonès; the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, ministers of the Spanish government, and the Spanish congress speaker, Meritxell Batet.

But on the sidelines of the event, a crowd gathered to protest the commemoration event and allege a cover-up, shouting slogans such as ‘We demand the truth’.

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The chorus singing the Song of the Birds in Las Ramblas. Image Ayuntamiento de Barcelona.

The attack was the worst on Spanish soil since the 2004 Atocha train bombings and left 16 people dead and dozens injured in coordinated attacks that started when a terrorist drove a van down the bustling thoroughfare of Las Ramblas at 5pm on August 17, 2017.

The attacker then fled in a stolen car after killing the driver. Just hours later, five other men in the jihadist cell launched an attack in the seaside town of Cambrills mowing down people in their vehicle before leaping out and stabbing a woman to death.

The men directly responsible for the attacks were shot dead by police but other members of the terrorist cell, who were thought to have been attempting an even bigger attack, were apprehended.

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