At the attack on the Christmas market at the Gedächtniskirche in Berlin on December 19, 2016, the Islamist assassin Anis Amri shot and killed a Polish driver of a tractor-trailer and drove the vehicle into a crowd at the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church around 8 pm which took place on Breitscheidplatz in the district Charlottenburg in Berlin. Due to the collision with the truck, eleven visitors of the Christmas market were killed, another 55 visitors were injured, some of them life-threatening.
At the terrorist attack in Barcelona on August 17, 2017, an assassin drove a van through a crowd on the Boulevard La Rambla in the center of Barcelona. 14 people were killed and at least 118 people were injured. On the run, the assassin stabbed another person. Since then, public places and major events have been feverishly hardened by the authorities. The barriers that were set in 2017 on many Christmas markets in Germany, for example, remained at the same location in many places.
Israel’s Mifram Security protects mission-critical assets and sensitive properties, as well as places with high symbolic power, with advanced physical security solutions, including Vehicle Barriers. These include FBM (Folded Barrier Multipurpose), PYRAMID and the RMB system (reliably stops 40 tones). These are quickly and safely set up and anchored on site in a problem- and solution-related manner. They can be used openly in the show-of-force concept or concealed (camouflage with everyday objects or vegetation). Mainly, the three concepts serve to stop VRA terror attacks.
Barriers of this kind would have largely prevented the attacks listed above. The phenomenon has long been known in Israel. In Germany, people probably shied away from the costs. The attack in Berlin would have been avoidable.
So far, vehicle barriers/obstacles have mainly been used for embassy protection and for military properties in operational areas. For inconspicuous use in major civil events, these have been modified and are not only available to authorities, but also municipalities and organizers. It is only necessary that they must be procured and set up according to a thoughtful room protection concept.