Spate of attacks coincide with Catalan independence vote

Joe

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I noticed several terror/shooting attacks around the Catalan independence vote on Sunday, itself marred by police violence against voters, that I thought I'd record here

There was a stabbing (and death) of two women outside Marseille train station yesterday (Sunday).

There was "terror attack" involving a car and knife attack against police officer in Edmonton, Canada on Saturday night: "Officer was run over and stabbed and car chase leaves four others injured"

And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?
 
Also in Edmonton, Canada, a truck plough into the crowd injuring 5 people.
 
loreta said:
Also in Edmonton, Canada, a truck plough into the crowd injuring 5 people.

Officer released from hospital, terrorism charges pending in Edmonton...(Tweets and Vid)
Snip:
_http://toronto.citynews.ca/2017/10/01/officer-released-hospital-terrorism-charges-pending-edmonton-attack/
The police officer as well as two of the four pedestrians injured in the violent attacks in Edmonton on Saturday night have been released from hospital, according to tweets by Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.

The tweets identified the injured officer as Const. Mike Chernyk.

Police say terrorism charges are pending against a suspect arrested after the attacks that saw the police officer stabbed and several pedestrians run down by a truck.

Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht did not release the 30-year-old suspect’s name, but said that five charges of attempted murder are also expected to be filed.

RCMP assistant commissioner Marlin Degrand says the suspect has been on the radar of authorities since 2015 when a complaint was filed suggesting he may have been radicalized.

Degrand says the suspect is a Somali national who was in the process of making a refugee claim in Canada.

The chaos began outside the Edmonton Eskimos football game Saturday night when police say a car rammed a traffic barricade and an officer was stabbed.

A few hours later, police chased a U-Haul cube van through the city and four pedestrians were injured.

It ended when the van rolled near a downtown hotel and the suspect was arrested.

Earlier on Sunday, police said they think the suspect acted alone. But police chief Rod Knecht stressed that the investigation is in its early stages and authorities haven’t ruled out others might have been involved.

An Islamic State militants flag was seized as evidence, he said.

The injured police officer was taken to hospital and treated for non life-threatening injuries. Four people were injured by the van, but the extent of their injuries was not immediately known.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Sunday that he was deeply concerned and outraged at what he called a “terrorist attack.”

“Our thoughts are with those injured, their family and friends, and all those affected by this senseless act of violence,” Trudeau said in a statement, in which he also thanked first responders and law enforcement.

“While the investigation continues, early reports indicate that this is another example of the hate that we must remain ever vigilant against.

“We cannot – and will not – let violent extremism take root in our communities. We know that Canada’s strength comes from our diversity, and we will not be cowed by those who seek to divide us or promote fear.”

Federal Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says at this time, the National Terrorism Threat Level for Canada remains at ‘medium’ where it has stood since the fall of 2014.

Edmonton’s mayor Don Iveson said the violent attacks were the work of a “lone wolf.”

“To the best of our knowledge, this was a lone wolf attack,” he said as he urged calm. “It is vital now that we not succumb to hatred, that we not be intimidated by violence and that we respond with the loving strength of this whole community … We will not be divided.

“Terrorism is about creating panic and about sowing divide and about disrupting people’s lives. We can succumb to that or we can rise above it.”

It all began Saturday night outside the Edmonton Eskimos CFL football game at Commonwealth Stadium where it was military appreciation night.

Canada’s chief of defence staff, Gen. Jonathan Vance, conducted the pregame coin flip and two CF-18 fighter jets did a fly-past before kickoff. More than 800 Boy Scouts were expected at the game and many were planning to camp out on the field afterward.

While the Eskimos were battling the Winnipeg Blue Bombers inside the stadium, outside a white Chevy Malibu approached a traffic control post at a high speed.

Edmonton police released grainy footage of a car ramming a crowd control barricade with a uniformed officer standing beside it. The footage shows the officer being tossed about five metres into the air as the car slams into the front of a parked police cruiser.

The video shows two people walking by with their dogs rushing towards the officer on the ground but they run off when the driver gets out of the car, runs over and appears to starts stabbing the officer.

The police officer appears to wrestle with the driver on the ground and, at one point, it appears the officer is on top of the driver. Footage shows them both getting to their feet and the driver runs across the street while the officer slowly follows behind him into traffic.

Police launched a manhunt for the suspect.

Knecht said an Islamic State flag was found in the front seat of the car and was seized as evidence.

A few hours later, while fans filed out of the game and were re-routed around the crime scene, a U-Haul cube van was stopped at a checkstop north of downtown.

When the driver was asked for his licence, Knecht said the name on the identification was close to that of the registered owner of white Malibu.

When confronted, Knecht said the U-Haul sped off toward downtown with police cars in pursuit.

The van intentionally swerved at pedestrians in crosswalks, Knecht said.

“It is believed at this time that these two incidents are related,” Knecht said. “These incidents are being investigated as acts of terrorism.”

The name of the suspect was not released. Knecht said he was known to police, but there was no warning for the attack.

Austin Elgie, manager of The Pint bar just west of the downtown core, saw the van zoom by with police giving chase.

The van “peeled” into an alley where people were smoking, he said.

“There were like 10 cop cars following him … It was crazy. It just came around the corner, ripping. I thought at first he was pulling over for the cops coming by, but he was clearly the one they were chasing.”

Elgie said the van hit a man who was a bar customer.

“I have a registered nurse on my bar team and I grabbed her and had her look after the guy until the ambulance came.

“He was breathing and we got him in the ambulance and he was still breathing.”

The chase came to an end outside the Matrix Hotel, only a few blocks from the bar, when the van rolled on its side.

Natalie Pon tweeted that she was at a wedding at the hotel when the crash happened.

“They’re keeping us away from windrows/the lobby,” she said.

Pon posted pictures of the U-Haul on its side with a large hole in the windshield.

Witnesses told local media they saw the suspect being pulled from the vehicle through the broken windshield and then placed in handcuffs.


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_https://twitter.com/cmaconthehill/status/914483471661387776/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Ftoronto.citynews.ca%2F2017%2F10%2F01%2Fofficer-released-hospital-terrorism-charges-pending-edmonton-attack%2F
 
Joe said:
And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?

Maybe, this "Mandalay" thing is a bizarre coincidence:

Las Vegas shooting: Death toll raised to 20 in Mandalay Bay casino attack

"Concertgoers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino across Las Vegas Boulevard from the country music festival and the sound of what they described as automatic gunfire.

Some later huddled in the basement of the nearby Tropicana hotel casino.

Some officers took cover behind their vehicles while others carrying assault rifles ran into the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino."

From Saturday 30th
Boris Johnson caught on camera reciting Kipling in Myanmar temple

[The UK foreign secretary] Boris Johnson was inside the Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred Buddhist site in the capital Yangon, when he started uttering the opening verse to The Road to Mandalay, including the line: “The temple bells they say/ Come you back you English soldier.”

On Spain, I noticed yesterday on BBC news coverage of the Police attacks in Catalonia that the word "miscalculation" was being used a lot by reporters on the scene, when talking about government sending in riot police. Wonder whether that’s a "big miscalculation"?
 
Joe said:
And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?

Oops, I made the following post before reading yours. And, yeah, it seems like something is definitely in the air.

Also, don't know if you saw this, but for almost a month now Russia has been experiencing a strange wave of "phone terrorism".
 
Keit said:
Joe said:
And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?

Oops, I made the following post before reading yours. And, yeah, it seems like something is definitely in the air.

Also, don't know if you saw this, but for almost a month now Russia has been experiencing a strange wave of "phone terrorism".

Oh you beat me to it Keit, I was about to make the connection with the wave of fake bomb calls in Rusia. At this time over 500.000 people have been evacuated and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
 
Another terror attack in Damascus, Syria.

https://www.rt.com/newsline/405396-syria-suicide-attack-damascus/
 
Is anybody noticing that things are coming at us faster and more furious to the point where hardly a day or two goes by without some awful news on the airwaves? How much can humanity take? The strain is really getting awful, speaking personally. It just feels like some really big something is just waiting in the wings for the crescendo.
 
Joe said:
I noticed several terror/shooting attacks around the Catalan independence vote on Sunday, itself marred by police violence against voters, that I thought I'd record here

There was a stabbing (and death) of two women outside Marseille train station yesterday (Sunday).

There was "terror attack" involving a car and knife attack against police officer in Edmonton, Canada on Saturday night: "Officer was run over and stabbed and car chase leaves four others injured"

And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?

About Las Vegas shooting it seems that the shooter was a man 64 years old linked to an asian woman and that ISIS proclaimed that he was one of his soldiers :huh: :huh: I have not a track record of every assault, but I don't remember old mens who become Muslims from one day to the next and commit assaults. I think it is more common that this "happens" with young boys... So far there are 50 deads and 200 injures.
 
Laura said:
Is anybody noticing that things are coming at us faster and more furious to the point where hardly a day or two goes by without some awful news on the airwaves? How much can humanity take? The strain is really getting awful, speaking personally. It just feels like some really big something is just waiting in the wings for the crescendo.

It is true Laura, I and my friends group were talking just about that during the last weeks. It seems that since a while back almost every day there is an event of this nature ... And what is most alarming to me is that IMO people in general seems to be normalizing these events. When this happens I think that people become less receptive to "signals" and therefore more blind.
 
Sometimes I feel like someone is pressing the fast-forward button in terms of hystericization.
 
Laura said:
Is anybody noticing that things are coming at us faster and more furious to the point where hardly a day or two goes by without some awful news on the airwaves? How much can humanity take? The strain is really getting awful, speaking personally. It just feels like some really big something is just waiting in the wings for the crescendo.

It does seem like every few days there's some new catastrophic event unfolding, or worsening developments in older ones. The strain of which is, like you said, getting really awful. I too get a sense that something really big and really terrible is waiting for the time to be 'right'. But when that will be and how much worse things will get in the meantime...
 
Gaby said:
Sometimes I feel like someone is pressing the fast-forward button in terms of hystericization.

This certainly seems to be the case. It is not only the occurrence of events with physical and concrete violence, it seems to be a process of radicalization and polarization that is developing throughout the entire planet. Just think about:

- The growth of extreme right-wing extremism throughout Europe
- Antifa against ultra-right-wing nationalists
- LGBT.... (rest of the alphabet) against the world
- Several independence movements around the world
.... just to mention a few

IMO everything seems to suggest that violence, beyond what is manifested concretely almost daily, is accumulating in potential terms to such an extent that at some point it can explode and manifest all at the same time. Just some thoughts...
 
msante said:
Joe said:
I noticed several terror/shooting attacks around the Catalan independence vote on Sunday, itself marred by police violence against voters, that I thought I'd record here

There was a stabbing (and death) of two women outside Marseille train station yesterday (Sunday).

There was "terror attack" involving a car and knife attack against police officer in Edmonton, Canada on Saturday night: "Officer was run over and stabbed and car chase leaves four others injured"

And just breaking now (Monday morning Europe) there has been a shooting at a concert in Las Vegas

Something 'in the air'?

About Las Vegas shooting it seems that the shooter was a man 64 years old linked to an asian woman and that ISIS proclaimed that he was one of his soldiers :huh: :huh: I have not a track record of every assault, but I don't remember old mens who become Muslims from one day to the next and commit assaults. I think it is more common that this "happens" with young boys... So far there are 50 deads and 200 injures.

Although now the FBI has come out to say that there was no affiliation, which to me it sounds like they’re not even sure of the agenda anymore. This one I see it as being eventually used to divide liberals and conservatives even further as it was a country concert I somehow see this deepening the gap.

In other news, while people are focused on this tragedy, the US secret service has been attempting to break in to the house of Russian diplomats in San Francisco again.
 
A Jay said:
Laura said:
Is anybody noticing that things are coming at us faster and more furious to the point where hardly a day or two goes by without some awful news on the airwaves? How much can humanity take? The strain is really getting awful, speaking personally. It just feels like some really big something is just waiting in the wings for the crescendo.

It does seem like every few days there's some new catastrophic event unfolding, or worsening developments in older ones. The strain of which is, like you said, getting really awful. I too get a sense that something really big and really terrible is waiting for the time to be 'right'. But when that will be and how much worse things will get in the meantime...

Yes! It's getting to the point that something awful happens daily. I just watched the news today and it was basically the "horror hour", non stop bad news! The phrase I am hearing constantly in conversation is "What's the world coming to?" and people are definitely on edge. And yes, I have also been feeling the strain, it's like an undercurrent of dread, sensing that things are about to escalate.
 
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