Islamic Terror Attacks Are Literally Changing the Face of Europe -- And America

Patrick Poole | 12:52 PM on August 27, 2017

Terror attacks that have targeted some of Western Europe’s most iconic landmarks have many countries revisiting their “Build Bridges Not Barriers” immigration policies, as the response to the ongoing terror spree literally remakes the face of Europe.

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After the “vehicle jihad” attacks last year in Nice and Berlin, and this year in London, Paris, Stockholm, and just over a week ago in Barcelona, European authorities are throwing up bollards and barriers in the hopes of preventing similar incidents:

From New York to San Francisco, the barriers are going up in America, too. And for good reason.

Last November, on the first day of classes following the Thanksgiving holiday, Somali refugee Abdul Razak Ali Artan drove into a crowd of students at Ohio State — the largest college campus in the country — injuring thirteen. The Islamic State later claimed credit for the attack, calling Artan one of its “soldiers.”

The incident at Ohio State was not the first car-ramming terror attack on a U.S. college campus. In March 2006, Iranian native Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar drove his SUV through a popular area on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus called “The Pit” during lunchtime. Nine people were injured in that attack, which Taheri-azar said was done to “avenge the deaths or murders of Muslims around the world.” He had rented the SUV specifically to maximize casualties. He is currently serving a 33-year prison sentence.

Islamic terrorist groups have openly encouraged their supporters living in Western countries to use vehicles to conduct random attacks.

In October 2010, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) published in their English-language “Inspire” magazine — in a section titled “Open Source Jihad” — instructions on creating “the Ultimate Mowing Machine.”

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That resulted in the FBI and DHS issuing a joint intelligence bulletin for law enforcement agencies warning of possible attacks.

After an ISIS-inspired terrorist ran down and killed a soldier in Quebec, the terror group encouraged additional attacks in their December 2014 “Dabiq” magazine. They specifically identified and targeted coalition countries targeting ISIS, including the “U.S., U.K., France, Australia, and Germany.”

Their supporters have responded to those calls for more attacks.

Earlier this month, I reported here at PJ Media on a car-ramming attack on soldiers involved in France’s Operation Sentinel anti-terror campaign. The attacker in that case was 37-year-old Bachir Hamou, an Algerian.

Just last Monday, a 51-year-old man drove into police in Paris shouting “Allah Akhbar.” According to reports, he had been listening to suras of the Koran, which were found in the car. A few hours later, 34-year-old Idriss Hamadene, a French Algerian, rammed into two separate shelters, killing two. Authorities claimed that the incident was not terror-related.

As the New York Times reported last week in the wake of the Barcelona attacks, Europe is now fortifying its most prominent and iconic monuments and public spaces, and securing their most famous events and venues, due to such attacks:

And it’s changing the face of Europe.

A German woman injured in the Barcelona terror attack died earlier today, raising the death toll there to sixteen. Now Spanish cities are acting to prevent future attacks:

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In the UK, where they’ve seen two jihadist-inspired ramming attacks in London this year and a suicide bombing of an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, the barriers are going up:

Even at the Wimbledon tennis tournament:

Even before an attempted terror attack at the Eiffel Tower in Paris earlier this month, French authorities were planning to build a protective barrier around France’s most iconic monument:

As noted by the New York Times, Oktoberfest officials in Munich have established new rules preventing any truck deliveries after opening festival halls to visitors, even pushing back the traditional 8:00 a.m. starting time.

Following the truck attack on the Christmas market in Berlin this past December, which killed twelve, barriers quickly appeared all over Germany:

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Germany had to turn to a country that is already familiar with car-ramming terror attacks — Israel:

For some, the barriers have become political symbols criticizing Merkel’s immigration policies:

And now Cologne’s famed cathedral is getting a security makeover:

Security barriers are also going up around Milan’s cathedral:

Perhaps coincidentally, the Berlin attacker, Tunisian Anis Amri, was killed in a shootout in Milan, and the city saw an ISIS-inspired knife attack on police and soldiers patrolling the Milan’s main train station back in May.

So barriers are going up all over Italy:

At the Vatican, too:

Most European cities are increasing security in the wake of the vehicle attacks, such as Copenhagen:

https://twitter.com/MatthiasBj/status/862369687027548166

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And Brussels:

Earlier this summer in Finland’s capital of Helsinki, authorities constructed barriers in front of a famous underground church they believed was being targeted by a terror plot:

And on the other side of the planet, Australia is getting prepared:

Here in the U.S., obvious targets such as New York City are constantly working to improve their security:

But now other cites, including Miami, New Orleans, and San Francisco, are paying attention to the problem as well:

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Earlier this month in Fremont, California, officials brought in a dozen 15,000 pound barriers for their annual arts festival:

Fremont has good reason to be cautious, since an Afghan refugee ran down nineteen people, killing one, with his SUV in 2006. Omed Aziz Popal claimed the people were evil and needed to be killed. Charged with murder and attempted murder, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Canada is also taking note of the trend:

The Barcelona barrier boom is also prompting new developments in technology to defeat car-ramming attacks. In Amsterdam, they’re trying a new form of asphalt to defeat attacks:

The problem has spawned a whole new art form — “crisis architecture”:

Another example is the IAM-sterdam sculpture placed in front of the square in front of the Rijksmuseum:

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In Copenhagen, they are adding trees to their terror barriers to make them more pedestrian and eco-friendly:

With terror attacks hitting Western countries on an almost-daily basis (sometimes more than daily), one must assume that more cities and countries will continue to upgrade all forms of protection against terror attacks.

The result, however, is literally changing the face of the world as we know it. Perhaps permanently.

Patrick Poole
For media inquiries, please contact [email protected]

Patrick Poole is a national security and terrorism correspondent for PJMedia. Follow him on Twitter.
Category: HOMELAND SECURITY
Tags: HOMELAND SECURITY

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