European Cities Add Barriers to Thwart Vehicle Attacks
A man killed five people, including a police officer, in a car
and knife attack on and near Westminster Bridge in London in March, and three men killed eight people in a van and knife attack on and near London Bridge in June.
After truck attacks last year in Nice and Berlin, the Spanish police advised cities to introduce tougher controls along key roads.
They added 3-ton concrete barriers, mindful of the attacks in Europe, most notably a truck assault
that killed 15 people last year at a Christmas market in Berlin.
22, 2017
Even before the attacks last week in Spain, European cities were installing barriers
to protect pedestrians after a series of attacks using cars, vans and trucks.
The Nice attack involved a man who killed 86 people as he plowed a stolen cargo truck into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day,
and the local authorities have invested around 20 million euros to protect pedestrians with bollards and steel fences.
In previous years the beer tents opened to the public at 8 a.m. No other European country has been hit by the recent terrorism more than France, where 239 people died in major attacks in
and around Paris in January and November 2015 and in Nice in July 2016.
Some cities — including Madrid, Málaga, Palma and Zaragoza — erected barriers after a pair of attacks, in Tunisia in 2015
and in Barcelona and the seaside resort of Cambrils last week.
