None of the six young terrorists of Ripoll who starred in attacks of 17-A came to be arrested. All those involved were killed. Four agents of the Mossos d’Esquadra neutralized five in Cambrils (Baix Camp) and to the sixth, Younes Abouyaqooubin Subirats (Alt Penedès). The actions of these uniformed officers are for many the most commendable in the history of the Catalan police. But they did involve pulling the trigger. Kill terrorists who had already killed 16 people and who, had they not been neutralized, would have continued to kill. But kill, after all. An uncomfortable burden that has fallen exclusively on the four agents, who have suffered serious psychological consequences for doing what they had to do.
Five years after the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils on August 17, 2017, the situation of the four police officers is abandonment by the Generalitat – public administration against which they have filed a demand–, lack of recognition internal by the leadership of the Mossos – which has not awarded them the highest decoration – and almost oblivion by the same society that breathed a sigh of relief to learn that none of the attackers posed a threat.
The hero of Cambrils
In the early hours of August 18, eight hours after Youness Abouyaqooub fatally ran over 14 people on La Rambla and stabbed near La Diagonal to Pau Perez to keep their car and flee Barcelona, five terrorists who were members of the same radicalized cell in Ripoll – armed with axes, knives and supposedly explosive belts – attacked Cambrils. They ran over and killed a citizen and then went against two Mossos agents on duty at an anti-terrorist prevention point in front of the Nautic Club after the attack on the Barcelona artery.
The terrorists rammed one of the two agents and then overturned. The other policeman, who was not injured, managed to shoot down four of the five terrorists who got out of the vehicle. Opening fire with a submachine gun for which he had received little training, due to his status as a citizen security agent, he prevented the jihadists from committing the massacre they had planned for the citizens who filled the Cambrils promenade at that time.
Due to these facts, this policeman, known as the ‘Hero of Cambrils’, has had to stop being an agent of the Mossos. Although he initially did not take the leave, in February 2018 he had to retire. Lawyer Jose Antonio Bitosresponsible for union legal services USPAC, denounces that the lack of follow-up and support received from the Government has been constant. Both in the case of this policeman, who is still undergoing psychological treatment provided by the union, and in that of the other three agents who had to confront the Ripoll terrorists.
In order to obtain total disability that recognizes that he cannot return to work as a police officer, it was necessary to win a legal battle against the National Institute of Social Security and the mutual Asepeyo. To be considered a victim of terrorism by the Ministry of the Interior, he had to face a bureaucratic wall that he climbed without the support of the Department of the Interior, which simply sent him the link to the Ministry’s website. The dome of Mossos d’Esquadra awarded the ‘hero of Cambrils’ a silver medal for their performance, the same decoration received by the other three police officers, the same one that was given to a good part of the uniformed men who intervened in those attacks, such as commanders who joined when everything was over.
At the proposal of the lawyer José Antonio Bitos, the Mossos ended up rectifying and in February 2022 they granted this policeman the gold medal with red badge. However, the lawyer emphasizes, before rectifying they objected that it should be stated in writing that it was the policeman himself who claimed it, a procedure that the lawyer and agent refused to carry out, judging it humiliating since the medals are not requested by the winners. and that finally it was not necessary for the police officer who shot down the four terrorists to receive the highest decoration of the body. But only him.
The other hero of Cambrils
Only one of the five terrorists who intended to carry out a massacre in Cambrils managed to reach the promenade and stab a citizen with a knife – who survived his injuries. But shortly after he was neutralized by another Mossos agent, also from citizen security. This second policeman who killed the fifth Cambrils terrorist detailed in an interview with EL PERIÓDICO, the only one he has granted to date, the psychological sequelae that he has suffered as a result of these events. After a period of sick leave he was able to return to his job and is currently still active as a Mossos agent. He was decorated with the silver medal and has been recognized as a victim of terrorism by the Ministry of the Interior.
When miquel samper was named ‘conseller’ d’Interior asked to meet with the policemen who were injured in the 17-A and those who killed the terrorists. A meeting was set up for the occasion to which this second Cambrils policeman was not invited. When Joan Ignacio Elena he took up his post, relieving Sàmper, and organized a similar meeting. Elena did summon this second Cambrils police officer. But neither he nor the ‘hero of Cambrils’, annoyed by the exclusion of his partner in the previous meeting with Sàmper, accepted Elena’s invitation.
Subirat’s patrol
The two agents who ended up shooting Younes Abouyaqooub heeded the warning that led them to the terrorist, believing they were following a false trail. Another one of the hundreds that were received during those days. On August 21, 2017, Abouyaqooub, the author of the La Rambla massacre, had been missing for four days and the Mossos had activated the most ambitious search device to find him. One of the functions of that operation was to verify the calls of citizens who claimed to have crossed paths with Abouyaqooub. But none of the information had turned out to be correct. Until then.
The two policemen got out of the car to inspect an area of vineyards and, with a bottle of water in their hands, they spotted a young North African man in the distance, armed with an apparently explosive vest. They dropped the bottle and unholstered the service pistol. Abouyaqooub, who first tried to hide in some bushes, reappeared and began to run towards them, who emptied their magazines.
Both police officers have also been on sick leave due to psychological consequences less severe than those of the first Mosso of Cambrils, and, like the second, they have been able to rejoin the service. They have also received the distinction of the silver medal and the consideration of victims of terrorism by the Ministry of the Interior. In his case, however, to receive such a category, it was necessary to resort to the courts since the Mossos did not send the Ministry the information that the State requested to verify that both were indeed who they claimed to be, laments lawyer Bitos.
The demand
None of the four police officers has been compensated by the Generalitat for the psychological damage suffered or for the days off they have accumulated. Spanish law underlines, according to Bitos, that the respective public administrations must compensate the police officers who are injured in the act of duty when those who caused the injuries are declared insolvent or have died – as is the case in this case.
The Conselleria d’Interior did not respond to the request for compensation from the policefiled at the end of 2021 by the USPAC union lawyer, and they have filed a lawsuit that is being studied by a Barcelona court.
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