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Ramon Serrano, a 47-year-old from Barcelona, ​​witnessed on August 17, 2017 the descent by La Rambla of Barcelona of the white van driven by Younes Abouyaaqoub who made the massive outrage, and two years after the attack he is still afraid to see a vehicle similar in the area: "I see a van of these and tremble."

In an interview with Europa Press, Serrano recalled that the day the attack occurred, he went up the avenue by bus and after the mosaic of Joan Miró saw "a gesture of a couple" that caught his attention.

"The boy pulled the girl's arm and, in tenths of a second, it was when I saw the van coming down through the middle of La Rambla," he explained, recalling the victims and damage that the vehicle left behind.

He got off the bus to help the injured and the first was a woman with a head wound that was bleeding: "I go out in a video first with a shirt and then without a shirt because with this shirt I am covering the girl's head."

He helped remove at least four wounded after a civilian police officer told him that "everything that is alive" had to be removed from La Rambla, as he recalled.

His partner is currently working at the La Boqueria market, near the point where the attack van stopped, and recently went to look for work and saw a similar van: "I got blocked, it gave me like a panic attack and I blocked myself. I stood still, I couldn't walk forward or backward until my wife saw me. "

About two weeks after the attack, he said he had difficulty eating and sleeping: These are "things that the body does not assimilate."

A neighborhood association recommended that he call the City Council psychologists, with whom he held three sessions in the fall of 2017, and then the Unit for Attention and Assessment of Those Affected by Terrorism (Uavat) contacted him in January 2019, an entity that explained the procedures necessary for his recognition as a victim although "he was already out of time to deliver any document".

From the Ministry of the Interior they responded to their request that the requests must be made within a maximum period of one year since the damages occurred, so in the case of Serrano the claim was extemporaneous and was inadmissible for processing "without knowing on the merits of the matter. "

"Serious mental scar"

Speaking to Europa Press, the advisor of the Uavat -and survivor of the ETA attack in Hipercor-, Robert Manrique, explained that the case of Serrano is not the only one that leads the entity, and has lamented: "There are many people they are eyewitnesses, that is, they don't have a scratch on one knee, but they can unfortunately develop a serious mental scar over time. "

He has criticized that in cases such as Serrano, the Administration responds "its file is not going to be assessed because it has arrived late," and has reproached that they have not sought the possible victims.

He has asked the Administration for empathy and sensitivity, and has added that the law establishes that victims must be informed, and has stated: "To inform a victim you first have to know her, and to know her you have to look for her."

Interior Ministry sources consulted by Europa Press have ruled out assessing particular cases, but have expressed "respect" to the witnesses, victims and victims of the attack, and have ensured that the law was followed in all proceedings.

The Ministry informed at the beginning of August that 5.2 million euros have been paid and 96 people have been recognized as victims, to which another 24 people have been added to whom aid has been granted as affected.

In the terrorist acts that took place in Barcelona, ​​Cambrils and Alcanar (Tarragona) between the night of August 16, 17 and 18, 2017, 16 people died and another 137 were injured, and the Ministry has processed 549 files, of which that, two years later, 74% have been resolved.

The Director General of Support for Victims of Terrorism, Sonia Ramos, also explained in statements to Europa Press that "witnesses" with sequels are not recognized by law as victims entitled to financial compensation, although they can have psychological help or give Sick leave.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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  • Tarragona
  • ETA
  • Barcelona
  • Parot doctrine
  • Attacks

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