CATALONIA REACTION: People in Barcelona and Catalonia yesterday expressed unprecedented solidarity with Madrid. Patrice Harrington reports from the Catalan capital
The grim news from Madrid inspired a historic and extraordinary hatchet-burying response in Barcelona.
The capital city of the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia - which is keen to sever its remaining links with the rest of Spain - nurtures a centuries-old political rivalry with Madrid that touches everything from industry to tourism to football.
The coalition government that has held the reins here since last November's elections has pursued an agenda increasingly dictated by the nationalist Catalan Republican Left (ERC), who seek greater financial control and the chance to negotiate with transnational corporations independently of Madrid.
But yesterday all petty rivalries, political ambitions and ancient feuds were forgotten, as incredulous Barcelonans came to terms with the disaster that had befallen their neighbours. And, possibly for the first time in the fractured country's history, the key word on everybody's lips was "solidarity".
"Today we are all Madrilenos," declared Pasqual Maragall, president of the Catalan government. "The terrorists may think that they have divided us, but what they have achieved is the exact opposite."
The people of Barcelona acted in accordance with his words.
Catalan flags were lowered to half-mast all around the city as five minutes of silence were observed in schools, offices and shops. On the Plaza de Sant Jaume where stands the Palau de la Generalitat - the seat of the regional Catalan government - scores of students demonstrated to express their horror at the atrocious carnage wreaked in the capital city of Spain.
"The people of Barcelona have always had a rivalry with the people of Madrid, but certainly not a hatred," explained 19-year-old Judit Cano, a student of tourism in the University of Barcelona.
"My boyfriend studies in Madrid, and this morning I was frantic when I saw the news. Many people in Barcelona have similar stories. Madrid is not that far away after all."
The normally silent commuters on the city's Metro struck up conversations with strangers, sharing their profound shock with one another over statistics of the dead and injured. With sad and frightened eyes, they shook their heads in dismay, their hands clasped to their mouths.
Crowds gathered around television sets in shop windows and bars as blinking images of blood-soaked survivors - and even of the limp and wide-eyed dead - were beamed through every channel. Barcelonans blinked and were speechless at the scale of the devastation.
Frank Rijkaard, who manages Barcelona Football Club - the city's number one obsession - approached UEFA in an effort to postpone last night's fourth-round game in Celtic Park. It was a significant gesture of respect for their arch-rivals in Madrid.
Catalans might be determined to go it alone, but they have always had some sympathy for their fellow countrymen.
Last month Eta declared a ceasefire in Catalonia, but far from breathing a sigh of relief that they had been spared, a crowd of feisty Barcelonans took to the streets in protest at the selective package on offer by the terrorist organisation.
And yesterday hundreds more of them took a couple of hours off work to donate blood at hospitals throughout the city after an appeal went out on the Catalan station, TV3.
"I'm just doing the only thing I can do to help the people of Madrid in their time of need," said one Catalan woman, interviewed for television from her hospital trolley.
"In times like this it is important to stick together," she said.
It is a sentiment shared, for once, by political parties of all persuasions in the region. Particularly those with egg on their face.
Just four weeks ago here a Catalan nationalist, Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, de-facto Prime Minister of the regional government and second in line to president Pasqual Maragall, was sacked after meeting Basque separatists.
This clandestine meeting with Eta members - which was leaked to ABC newspaper - took place when Maragall was on holiday, leaving him effectively in charge.
Carod-Rovira claimed that the meeting took place at Eta's suggestion and that he wanted "to help contribute to the possibility that Eta might declare a ceasefire and stop its armed fight."
Other reports suggest that his mission was to ensure an end to Eta bombings in Catalonia.
Now secretary general of the ERC, Carod-Rovira was quick to speak out against the attacks on Madrid yesterday.
"There isn't a single political objective that can be achieved with violence," he stated, before expressing solidarity with the families of the victims and the hope that peace and democracy is restored to the shell-shocked country.
For once the people and politicians of Spain and Catalonia are holding hands - united by outrage and grief.