'Angry but not knocked'

'Angry but not knocked'

World August 18, 2017 14:24

barcelona - In the city of Barcelona there are a lot of Dutch hospitality entrepreneurs. Most of them opened the doors of their cafes today after they closed closed yesterday.

Vincent van Leeuwen owns the Amarre cafe, on the Paseo Joan de Borbo, the road leading from the port to the beach. He also closed the matter at 18 o'clock yesterday.

'At 5 o'clock I went past the macro for shopping for the bar, I drove to Amarre. I came past Plaça Catalunya, I saw all police cars and thought: so there is a lot going on. When I arrived at Amarre ten minutes later, I was told what was going on. '

'Yes, I almost closed the bar. For more reasons. The main was safety. By that time, we found that several perpetrators were free to walk around and searched for. And we're not so far away from the Ramblas, you walk past the harbor and you're there! We also heard that there would be a hostage situation in the restaurants nearby. That turned out to be untrue later, but at the moment you are acting to what you hear. I just could not guarantee the safety of the people. You do not want to bow to terrorism, but you have to stay real. '

'My brother Erik and I have one more thing: Rembrandt. It is a little further from the center, but we have also closed them. To the simple fact that we broadcast football there. And we thought, we can not sell it to the city of Barcelona that we have cheering people today in our cafe. We did not want that either. '

'Today is a new day. We are just open again. I'm not afraid, be careful. The whole city has been quiet for a minute today, there was a meeting at Plaça Catalunya. The people are angry, sad, but not crushed. That's nice to see: and solidarity is the top tone. You also see that people volunteer to report in hospitals, to give blood, or to help. All people: local, international, they join together. In a city where people sometimes agree, that's nice to see. '

'No, I do not think tourism will go back. The first month maybe. But every big city runs such a risk, it's a bit of a roulette, or a lottery: how do you say that. We have seen anti-terrorism units for months- and yet this happens. You can not say much about it. But the city is on top! '

Luuk Mande, 53, owner of Bar Ke in Barcelona's main square: 'I do not feel very different now than I would have if the attack was done in another city. We were already at increased terrorist threat- and Barcelona is an attractive target: a city full of tourists. So you could almost wait for that. Fortunately, there are no personal friends or acquaintances involved in me, of course, I hope that stays. I closed my bar yesterday because my staff wanted to. No, not myself, I do not think there was a greater risk of an attack than otherwise. And I think it's nice for people to get together in your tribal or neighborhood bowl, and then have it together. The (extra) threat was therefore not real in my eyes, but the fear of my staff- so I paid them and went close. Today we are open again. What really matters to me now: why did not the Ramblas wobble? The newspapers write that the authorities / mayor Colau did not want that. If that's true, then that's a bad thing. '

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