A ceremony was held this afternoon to pay homage to and remember the victims of the Hipercor attack, which claimed 21 lives and left 45 injured, 33 years ago today. The attack was the biggest ever by the terrorist group ETA in terms of victims. Today’s ceremony was organised by the City Council and this year presided over by the Deputy Mayor for Safety and Prevention, Albert Batlle.

The ceremony was held in front of the monument Tall Irregular Progression, by Sol LeWitt, in tribute and in memory of the victims of terrorism. The monument is in Parc de Can Dragó, in the district of Nou Barris.

The first part of the ceremony involved the reading of two poems: Defender la alegría, by Mario Benedetti, by the actor Jordi Banacolocha, and Estimar és un lloc, by Joan Margarit, by the actress Anna Lagares. A string trio also offered two pieces of music: Hallelujah, by Leonard Cohen, and El cant dels ocells.

Finally, a wreath was laid, accompanied by 21 drumbeats.

The City Council was also represented by the Councillor for the District of Nou Barris, Xavier Marcé, and other councillors from various municipal political groups. Others in attendance included the head of the City Police, Pedro Velázquez, and the director of the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Service, Sebastià Massagué.

The ceremony was also attended by the government’s sub-delegate in Barcelona, Carlos Prieto, as well as representatives from the bureau of the Catalan parliament and various parliamentary groups, the director general for police from the Ministry of the Interior, Pere Ferrer, the chair of the UAVAT Association, Sara Bosch, other members of the association and from the Mossos, Civil Guard and National Police corps.

Javier Martínez also attended with his daughter. Martínez is the father of the youngest victim of the terrorist attack on La Rambla in August 2017, a three-year-old boy.