Dutch prepare to bring in new EU rules on airline passenger information

DutchNews, January 10, 2018

Justice minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus has submitted a draft law to parliament which will require airlines to hand over all their information about passengers to the military police. 

The information will go to a new police unit for analysis with the aim of tracking down terrorists and major criminals, the minister said. The new law stems from the European Passenger Name Record directive, which is now being incorporated into Dutch law. 

Grapperhaus expects the legislation to complete its passage through parliament before the summer. 

Information about passengers – including details about baggage, payments and addresses – will be kept for five years. It can also be shared with other countries, Europol and the regular Dutch police force.

Lafarge ex-CEO denies knowing of Syria payments until late

Yahoo - AFP, 16 December 2017

Former Lafarge CEO Bruno Lafont has been charged with "financing a
terrorist organisation and "endangering the lives of others"

A former CEO of French-Swiss cement maker LafargeHolcim said he was made aware of payments to the Islamic State group in August 2014, contradicting an account by another top executive, a source close to the case said Saturday.

Lafarge is accused of paying the terrorist group and other militants $12.9 million between 2011 and 2015 so that the company's factory in Jalabiya, northern Syria, could continue to operate despite the war.

According to a report commissioned by LafargeHolcim and seen by AFP, Lafarge's Syrian subsidiary Lafarge Cement Syria (LCS) paid out some $5.6 million (4.7 million euros) between July 2012 and September 2014.

Of this, more than half a million dollars went to IS, according to an April report by US consultants Baker McKenzie.

Last week, Bruno Lafont -- chief executive from 2007 to 2015 when the company merged with the Swiss building supplies company Holcim, before serving as co-chairman of LafargeHolcim until April this year -- was charged with "financing a terrorist organisation and "endangering the lives of others".

The group's former Syria chief Christian Herrault and Eric Olsen, who took over from Lafont as CEO after the company merged with Switzerland's Holcim, were also charged with the same crimes.

Investigators contend that Lafont was aware of the millions of dollars being paid to various armed groups including IS.

The three men have been in detention since December 6.

According to the source, Lafont told judges in a hearing that Herrault announced "an agreement with Daesh (IS)" during a board meeting in August 2014.

"I did not comment at the time, except to say that the deal was not a good idea," Lafont said, adding that he then decided to close the plant.

It would eventually fall into the hands of the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi group a few weeks later, on September 19, 2014.

'Regularly informed'

Herrault acknowledged earlier this year that Lafarge was involved in a "racket", but that he kept Lafont "regularly informed", according to the commissioned report.

Herrault apparently told Lafont about what was going on in Syria beginning in summer 2012 and of the jihadist payments in September-October 2013.

Herrault told judges he paid IS "the sum of 5 million Syrian pounds ($20,000) monthly from November 2013," because "all the stakeholders have to make sure that this investment lasts and works".

"There are many things I did not know and that may have been hidden from me," Lafont told the judges.

The former CEO denied having wanted to stay in Syria at all costs only for a "commercial" reason, seeing as the group had spent $680 million on its Jalabiya factory a few years earlier.

"Obviously an asset of that amount is taken into account but it is not the only thing taken into account," Lafont said. "A cement factory is very difficult to dismantle (and) our custom is to not let people down".

Lafont told judges he realised in July 2013 that the situation in Syria had worsened and that the company needed an exit strategy.

"Mr. Lafont never expressed doubts or any intention of closing the factory to Mr. Herrault from that date and until August 2014," Herrault's lawyer Solange Doumic said.

Lafont's lawyer was unavailable for comment.

Lafarge hung on for another 14 months, after most French companies had left as IS made major territorial gains.

Three former officials at the Jalabiya factory were also charged in the case last week.

Police uncover gas arsenal at bomb factory as Barcelona mourns

Yahoo – AFP, Daniel BOSQUE with Hui Min NEO in Madrid, August 20, 2017

Mourners gathered in Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica to remember the 14
 people killed in two deadly vehicle attacks claimed by the Islamic State group
(AFP Photo/PASCAL GUYOT)

Barcelona (AFP) - Spanish police said Sunday they had uncovered a cache of 120 gas canisters at a house believed to be the bomb-making factory of suspects in terror attacks that claimed 14 lives, as Barcelona mourned victims of the rampage.

The suspected jihadists had been preparing bombs for "one or more attacks in Barcelona", regional police chief Josep Lluis Trapero told reporters, revealing that traces of TATP explosive had also been found.

But the suspects accidentally caused an explosion at the house on the eve of Thursday's attack in Barcelona -- an error that likely forced them to modify their plans.

Instead, they used a vehicle to smash into crowds on Barcelona's Las Ramblas boulevard as it was thronged with tourists, killing 13 people and injuring about 100.

Several hours later, a similar attack in the seaside town of Cambrils left one woman dead. Police shot and killed the five attackers in Cambrils, some of whom were wearing fake explosive belts and carrying knives.

The Islamic State (IS) group claimed responsibility for the attacks, believed to be its first in Spain.

Police are hunting a Moroccan man suspected of driving the van used in Barcelona, and warn that he could be at large outside Spain.

"We don't know where he is," said Trapero of the 22-year-old suspect, Younes Abouyaaqoub.

'No music, no children, no women'

In the small town of Alcanar, investigators were combing the rubble of a house believed to be the suspects' bomb factory, and where the gas canisters were uncovered.

A French retiree Martine Groby, who lived next door, told AFP of her regret in notifying police about her neighbours.

She comes only several times a year to her pink-painted villa but noticed that four men "who all speak French" had been in the house next door since April.

"They were very discreet, too discreet. The shutters were closed, there was no music, no children, no women," she recalled.

"Sometimes they would stay just two days and they would leave. They said hello to me but never looked me in the eye," added the 61-year-old pensioner.

She said that on Wednesday she was flung to the floor by a violent blast.

"I didn't know they were terrorists. I thought it was our gas canister that exploded," she said.

- Imam's role? -

Traces of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) -- a homemade explosive that is an IS hallmark -- were also found at the house.

Investigators said they believe the terror cell comprised at least 12 men, some of them teenagers.

Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia were among the dignitaries

attending the ceremony (AFP Photo/PASCAL GUYOT)

An imam, Abdelbaki Es Satty, is among the suspects, police confirmed.

He is believed to have radicalised youths in Ripoll, a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees, where several suspects -- including Abouyaaqoub -- grew up or lived.

On Saturday, police raided the imam's apartment there. Investigators are also looking for DNA traces to see if the imam may have been blown up in the explosion in Alcanar.

Radicalising youngsters

The imam was reportedly known to police, with Spanish media saying he had spent time in prison.

El Pais and El Mundo quoting anti-terror forces said the imam had met prisoners linked to the Al-Qaeda-inspired bombing of Madrid trains that killed 191 people in March 2004 in what remains the worst terror attack in Europe.

Nordeen El Haji, 45, who four months ago moved into the apartment that Satty occupied, said that "on Tuesday morning, (the imam) left saying that he was going on vacation to Morocco."

"He spoke little, spent most of the time with his computer in his room, and had an old mobile phone with no internet, and few books," said Satty's flatmate.

'Brainwashed'

In the Moroccan town of M'rirt, relatives of Abouyaaqoub accused the imam of radicalising the young man, as well as his brother Houssein.

"Over the last two years, Younes and Houssein began to radicalise under the influence of this imam," their grandfather told AFP.

Most of the suspects are children of Moroccan immigrants, including Ripoll-born Moussa Oukabir, 17, one of five suspects shot dead in Cambrils. His older brother Driss is among the four arrested.

Las Ramblas in Barcelona, where the deadliest attack took place, has been turned

into a sea of flowers and candles to honour the victims (AFP Photo/JOSEP LAGO)

A cousin said Moussa "loved playing football, having a good time, chatting up girls".

"The last few months, he started to become interested in religion. He used to go to a mosque in Ripoll. Maybe that's where he was brainwashed," the cousin said.

Snipers on rooftops

Three days after the attack that plunged the country into deep grief, locals and tourists turned out in force on Sunday to mourn victims at Barcelona's Sagrada Familia basilica.

King Felipe, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Catalonia's president, Carles Puigdemont, led the 90-minute ceremony commemorating the victims, who came from three dozen countries, some as far afield as Australia, China and Peru.

The individual tragedies lengthened on Sunday as the family of a seven-year-old British-Australian boy, Julian Cadman, who had been listed as missing, confirmed that he was among the 13 killed in Barcelona.

"He was so energetic, funny and cheeky, always bringing a smile to our faces," his family said.

"We are so blessed to have had him in our lives and will remember his smiles and hold his memory dear to our hearts."

#UPDATE Catalan authorities says #Barcelona terror cell 'neutralised' https://t.co/zNESpuI1fS pic.twitter.com/fXWZNA3BaI

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 20, 2017

'They're our neighbours': Hometown of Spain attack suspects in shock

Yahoo – AFP, Alfons LUNA, August 19, 2017

Catalan police officers detain a handcuffed suspect in Ripoll during a search
 linked to the deadly terror attacks in Barcelona and the seaside resort of
Cambrils (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

Ripoll (Spain) (AFP) - In the Spanish border town of Ripoll, everyone knows each other -- making it all the more shocking to residents that jihadists believed responsible for this week's deadly twin attacks lived among them.

"You are neighbours your entire life and they end up doing this," said Maria, a waitress in the town of around 10,000 inhabitants, who declined to give her full name.

The attackers killed 14 people and left 120 others wounded, using vehicles to mow down pedestrians in Barcelona on Thursday and in the nearby Catalan seaside resort of Cambrils early Friday.

At least seven of the 12 suspects grew up or lived in Ripoll.

Most were children of Moroccan immigrants, including Ripoll-born Moussa Oukabir, 17, one of five "suspected terrorists" shot dead after the Cambrils attack.

Likewise, his neighbour Mohamed Hychami, 24, and 18-year-old Said Aallaa, who were also in the car turned into a deadly weapon, called Ripoll home.

At least three of four other suspects detained were also inhabitants of the little town that attracts skiers en route to the Pyrenees mountains bordering France.

And on Saturday, officers raided the apartment of an imam in Ripoll, Abdelbaki Es Satty, according to his flatmate who gave his name only as Nourddem.

"The last time I saw him was Tuesday and he told me that he was going to see his wife in Morocco," Nourddem told AFP.

But Spanish daily El Pais, quoting police sources, said the imam may have been one of those killed in an explosion in a house in Alcanar, some 200 kilometres south of Barcelona, where the alleged jihadists were believed to have been building bombs.

'They came in for a beer'

Everywhere across town, the dismay that one of their own had carried out the deadliest attack in Spain since 2004 was palpable.

Stunned locals looked on as heavily armed officers raided several homes on Friday, including one next to the central Plaza Grande square filled with cafe terraces.

A waiter at one of the cafes told AFP he had served beers to the suspects numerous times, most recently just two days ago.

"They came to have beer at another bar in the square where I used to work. Two days ago they came, two of them and a child. They had a Heineken, a cafe au lait and the child had a juice," said the waiter, who declined to give his name.

A Catalan police officer holds a bag in Ripoll after carrying out a search linked 

to Spain's deadly terror attacks (AFP Photo/PAU BARRENA)

The suspects behaved normally, and gave no reason to be watchful of them, he added.

"Of course it is surprising," a customer of one of the bars, Alberto Batlle, told AFP of the attacks.

"You usually see these things on television happening in other countries and you always believe it will continue to happen to others. And it really affects you, when it happens in Barcelona and it is the work of people from Ripoll."

Yasmila, the neighbour of one of the alleged jihadists, also said that the suspect Said Aallaa was a hardworking and good youth.

"A friend apparently called him on Thursday at 3pm and he went out for a drive," she said, recalling the event two hours before the Barcelona attack.

Signs of radicalisation?

But other locals say there had been visible signs that some in the local Muslim community may have become more radicalised, with some becoming less social.

The opening of a mosque in 2008 prompted controversy in a town that is home to a monastery dating back to the year 888, according to media reports, while more recently a local newspaper column had urged authorities to "check the speech of some imams who were preaching during Ramadan".

Ripoll Mayor Jordi Munell angrily rejected this, saying that if someone saw something suspect, they must tell authorities.

"Today, for example, a person told me that one of (the suspects) had written a radical message on social media. That's true, four years ago! And never again," he said.

"When it's happened, it's very easy to say 'I knew it'."

That's exactly what a man of around 60 said.

"Those who know these north Africans are not surprised," he told AFP.

"You can't say that, they're not all the same," was the retort of a woman who lived next door to Moussa Oukabir.

She added that Moussa's older brother, Driss -- arrested on Thursday -- was a "very well-raised boy".

He told officers that his identity papers, which had been used to rent the van that ploughed into pedestrians in Barcelona, had been stolen by Moussa, according to police sources.

La comunitat islàmica es manifesta a #Ripoll pic.twitter.com/kujb8IDsOE

— Corisa (@CorisaMediaGrup) August 19, 2017

Using vehicles as weapons of terror in Europe

Yahoo – AFP, August 17, 2017

Police cordon off Barcelona's popular Las Ramblas area after a van drives into a
crowd of people in what is described as a terrorist attack (AFP Photo/Josep LAGO)

Barcelona (AFP) - A driver deliberately ploughed a van into pedestrians on one of Spain's busiest streets on Thursday, killing 13 people in what police called a "terrorist attack".

Vehicles have been used as weapons of terror several times over the past year, often by by followers of the Islamic State (IS) group, attacking nations in the US-led coalition fighting the jihadists in Iraq and Syria.

The IS propaganda agency Amaq claimed that "soldiers" from the jihadist group carried out the attack, according to the Site Intelligence Group which monitors Islamist websites.

Police said they had arrested two suspects.

Bastille Day Nice attack

On July 14, 2016, Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a 31-year-old Tunisian, ploughs a 19-tonne truck into a Bastille Day crowd leaving a fireworks display in Nice on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 people on the famous beachfront avenue.

IS later claims Bouhlel as one of its followers.

- On June 19, 2007, Adam Dzaziri, a 31-year-old radicalised Islamist who had sworn allegiance to the IS, is killed when he rams a car loaded with guns and a gas canister into a police van on Paris's Champs-Elysees. No one else is injured.

- On August 19, 2017, a 36-year-old Algerian man, named as Hamou B., drives a BMW into soldiers outside a barracks in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, injuring six. After a car chase, police shot and wounded the suspect.

Major attacks in Europe using vehicles as a weapon (AFP Photo/Simon 

MALFATTO, Valentina BRESCHI)

London targeted twice

On March 22, 2017, a 52-year-old British convert to Islam, Khalid Masood, mows down pedestrians on Westminster Bridge near parliament and stabs a policeman, killing five people and injuring around 50 before being shot dead by police. The attack is claimed by IS.

On June 3, the British capital is hit again when three attackers strike pedestrians with a van and go on a stabbing spree wearing fake suicide vests in bars in the London Bridge area. Eight people are killed before the assailants are shot dead by police. The attack is also claimed by IS.

Berlin Christmas market

On December 19, 2016, Tunisian national Anis Amri, 24, hijacks a truck and slams into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48.

Amri is shot dead by Italian police in Milan four days later after travelling through several European countries. IS claims responsibility.

Stockholm shopping street

An April 7, 2017 a truck attack in the Swedish capital kills five people, including an 11-year-old Swedish girl, a Briton, and one Belgian. Fifteen others are injured.

An Uzbek national, Rakhmat Akilov, 39, confesses to using a stolen beer truck to mow down pedestrians on Stockholm's busiest shopping street Drottninggatan. According to Uzbek police he had tried to join IS in 2015.

Related Articles:

2015 Kryon Kundalini Tour (Cusco #2, Peru) - "The Dysfunction of Darkness" - Nov, 14, 2015 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Reference to Paris/ISIS/Dark-Old Energy/USA+Warning for Governments around the World !!!) - (Text version)

"... Funding is the Grease of the Engine of Darkness

Everyone on the planet will have to get off the fence in order to eliminate the dark army. Now we have told you before how to do it. And politicians will roll their eyes. Those on the inside of government who know how things work will roll their eyes. You can eliminate the dark army without death. The very thing they're afraid of losing, you can take from them now. Money! How does a dark army work when they can't eat? How will they function when they have no weapons? I guarantee you, even the darkest member of a dark army will go home if they're not fed, or there's no one around to organize them because the leaders are hungry and left. It's impossible, some say. The money is coming from unknown sources, they say. Let me tell you something. No, it isn't. It is coming from very known sources. Much of it comes from the resources of conquered land, but not all. They will start losing their land soon, so they will need funds all the more. If the sources of their income were totally exposed - there are those listening who need to hear this - if the sources of their income were totally exposed, it would make a big difference to the public, who would be shocked.

Let me talk to politicians. You regularly sit across the table from those who are from other countries and who are allies. They smile at you as they fund the dark side. After all, there is money to be made with war! This has been the way of it for years. But this won't last long. Politician, when it's found out that you knew about it, you are the one who will be held responsible. You didn't do anything about it.

I want to talk to Americans, because my partner [Lee] is an American. I'm going to tell you something now, and you're not going to believe it. Many of your hard-earned tax funds are finding their way to the dark army! And there are those within your government who know it. I'll give you an answer as to what to do about it in just a few words: International transparent forensic accounting. International transparent forensic accounting! It is time to clean up the funding of the dark, and kill their ability to make war. (***)

I have a warning for any of those in leadership who know about where the money is coming from, and are not doing anything about it. Your leadership days are numbered. The light is going to expose it and you will lose. Why not get on the right side of the fence now?

Is this too high-minded? Is this too simple? To think that the world could come together and pull the rug from under the darkness where they sit and the cocoon of money that they're in - could this actually happen? Watch for a wild card! [Kryon chuckles again.]

If you did this, would it change the kind of attack you had in Paris? After all, that wasn't an army at all, but just a few. The answer is yes - for the few answer to the many and were trained by the many. They saw the many as an established core to work from. Without the core, there is no purpose. The few are then on their own, without anything backing them up.

It's up to you listening, not the ones in this room. The ones listening and reading later may not even be into Kryon or channeling, but they hear this and know I'm right. This is not a dark message. It's a light message! The beginning is here. Things are changing. You are witnessing the change as we speak.

There'll come a day when you will never see this happen again, these organized groups of evil. This is the joyful message I have for you today. History will remember these times when the world finally got together and realized where they were going. It is tough now. It changes the paradigm of existence. Lives, governments and business will all start to understand the battle is here and is theirs to win. What is your reaction?

I want you to congratulate, love, and understand those who were lost yesterday [in Paris]. I've said this before: They are on my side of the veil now. They're all right. They're now looking back at you and - we have used the phrase before - they're saying, “We did our part. Now you do yours.” They will return to this planet, all of them, and participate in the beauty of the light you are creating at this time of shift on your planet.

Believe me, the end has already happened. This is the beginning.

I am in love with humanity, because of what I have seen you do.

And so it is.

KRYON

(*) "The Recalibration of Dark and Light"

www.kryon.com/k_channel11_San%20Antonio-12.html

(**) "Revelations of Darkness"

www.kryon.com/CHAN2014/k_channel14_Philadelphia-14.html

(***) Within days, a petition was circulating for this exact thing: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/create-international-transparent-forensic-accounting-system-end-all-funding-terrorist-groups-isisisisil

UN unanimously adopts resolution targeting IS finances

US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew (R) votes yes on a wide-ranging draft

 resolution aimed at ramping up sanctions against the Islamic State group as

 finance ministers gather at the United Nations Security Council on December 17,

2015 (AFP Photo/Timothy A. Clary)

"Revelations of Darkness" - Oct 1, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version)

“ .. Do Not Despair

There's too much information to give you in one channelling, in one sitting, so I refer to past messages for you to better understand and reference the information in order to get the bigger picture. So I wish to remind you of something I also told you in a recent channelling called Do Not Despair. You're winning! It's because you're winning that the dark consciousness on this planet is feeling it, and the humanity that represents darkness is pulling out everything it has to survive.

It Has Always Been There

Let's look at it, because it's all over the news. Are you shocked at the sudden existence of the organization that will remain unnamed [for this channelling]? Where did it come from? How could it be so organized? How could it be so well funded? This organization could have its own country soon! They might as well name it, “The Old Energy Dark Country”, for that's what it will represent.

The barbaric past of humanity comes forward to show its face. It has always been there, hiding under the rocks and between the cracks of civilized humanity. It couldn't show itself until now, but now it has to. It's ugly and it's not for the faint at heart, is it, dear ones? Seeing evil personified in Human action is abhorrent. It is so ugly and so dark that you cannot look upon it with a gentle heart. God is not a part of it and this is obvious.

You're winning! Light is winning! The uprising of dark consciousness would not have shown itself with this strength, or this quickly, if this were not so. This is exactly what I told you to look for, and it is proof that those representing this dark consciousness are in trouble. Dear ones, dark consciousness has always had a tried-and-true system. It lurks in the shadows and influences all the power places of the planet - government, commerce, finance. Suddenly, it can't hide there as well anymore and it's out in the open.

Where is the funding coming from? It is coming from a storehouse that has always been there, dear ones. It uses income that has been generated from low consciousness acts, collected for a very long time. Funding didn't just appear. It has been stored, waiting to be used in order to spread fear and darkness to save what they believe is their way.

Who Will Win?

Dear ones, they haven't got a chance! But it looks like they do, doesn't it? Everything that they are doing is calculated to scare you into submission. Are they winning? Now, that's a question I want you to take from here and examine every day.

Fear is black. If you're in fear, there is no light. You can be the grandest Lightworker, or even be the channeller, but if you're in fear, it doesn't matter how many years you've done light work, or how much light you've accumulated personally. It all goes away with fear, and then they've won the battle for your mind. Do you understand this?

The Strength of the Old Soul - YOU

Old souls, Lightworkers reading this, the experiences you have had over lifetimes and lifetimes are incredible! The old soul knows fear. I don't want to be too graphic, but I want you to understand! What was it like when you put your head in the guillotine because you talked about God in a way that was inappropriate? What was it like to be bound hand and foot when they lit the match at your feet? Old soul, that's fear! You carry those experiences in your Akash.

I want to tell you they haven't got a chance to scare you! You absolutely know what fear is, and they haven't got a chance as long as you cling to that part of you that is the strength of God. You've been through it all. That means you've got the weapons of truth, wisdom and light. Don't forget it. Don't forget who you are!

Do you see how fast they assembled? It seemed like only yesterday that there was no organization at all. Where did they come from? Have you noticed a certain hesitancy to fight them? Why is it that the citizens of the lands that they are invading are hesitant to fight them? Instead, these leaders are calling on others to help. Why is it that the others are also hesitant? I want to show you that there are some anomalies of logic that are not making sense, because this is a battle you have never seen before on this planet. We've expected it, but you haven't. It's about consciousness, not land or resources.

How to Win?

We gave you the secret before of how to defeat them without taking even one life: Simply take away their funding. They cannot exist without their funding. The funding has to be organized, stored, and distributed. It has to be generated in such a way that it must also go through institutions. Did you hear that? All you have to do is stop the system. Winning won't be done with bombing. It's going to be done with intelligence, clever thinking and financial forensics. It's time to get smart on some of these things and not to be afraid to look at this puzzle differently than you have before. Do not apply the energy they are using in order to fight them, because you won't win. Figure it out. It's the last bastion of organized darkness and evil thinking on this planet coming together to try to survive the assault of your light. Don't be afraid to look at the funding trail, no matter where it takes you.

Fear is Their Weapon

I want you to know something as you look at your news. It may appear that you are unable to stop them. In many places, they will gain strength as they create fear. The fear is easily created in those who are not old souls and who don't know fear like you do and who don't have the armor of your spiritual experiences. This puts you in the front line, dear one. Did you realize that? But you don't have to go fight them on their terms. All you have to do is broadcast light. High consciousness will beat fear any day.. .”

'Don't look back in anger': Manchester's musical message to the world

Yahoo – AFP, Rosie SCAMMELL, May 25, 2017

The crowd broke out into spontaneous song after the minute's silence
 (AFP Photo/Ben STANSALL)

Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - "Don't look back in anger".

The now poignant words of legendary Manchester Britpop band Oasis rang out in a flower-filled square on Thursday, as a grieving crowd broke out in song after a minute's silence to remember the 22 people killed in Monday's suicide bombing.

In a city with a proud musical heritage, this was a spontaneous message of defiance from people trying to come to terms with the heartbreaking massacre of innocent young victims who were themselves enjoying a pop concert.

A woman clutching a bouquet of flowers among the crowd of hundreds started the refrain as others urged people to "sing up" to send a loud message to the attackers.

Earlier the bells of St Ann's Church rang out as silence fell over the packed square. The minute's silence ended with applause which then melted into song.

One man's cry of "We love Manchester!" marked the end of the musical tribute, followed by further applause as emotions ran high in the square.

As the song ended, people broke into a round of applause (AFP Photo/Oli SCARFF)

St Ann's has become the focal point for a city in mourning since the attack at the nearby Manchester Arena, where 22 people including children were killed after a concert by US pop star Ariana Grande on Monday.

With so many children caught up in the attack, teddy bears, candles and heart-shaped balloons piled up in the square, along with notes of mourning and many messages stressing the need for unity within the city.

"MCR stronger than hate, unwilling to fear" read one. "The City of Manchester stands united" said another.

"It's a bereavement for all of us. It's like your own family just passed away, it's just so, so sad," said 69-year-old Carmel McLaughlan, standing next to a sea of thousands of flowers.

"There's just sadness hanging over Manchester at the moment. It's terrible, it's hard to believe it."

Thursday's event followed a vigil on Tuesday in the city's Albert Square, attended by thousands, where a respectful silence was ended with cheers and a chants of "Manchester! Manchester! Manchester!"

Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday visited some of the children wounded in the attack, telling them it had been "very wicked".

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II made a rare visit to see some of the wounded

 children, describing the attack as "very wicked" (AFP Photo/Peter Byrne)

Twenty-three people remain in critical care while scores more remain in hospital with injuries sustained when 22-year-old bomber Salman Abedi detonated his explosive device.

A forensics team dressed in white suits could be seen combing the steps leading to the Arena on Thursday, as police guarded a large cordon in place around the site.

Inside the venue car park, vehicles still stood off-limits to their owners, while outside more bunches of flowers and cuddly toys lined the pavement.

The wall has been lined with creations by young children at a local primary school, including paper flowers, doves and Manchester's worker bee symbol.

"Sorry about the bomb that had happen and sorry if your family got hurt," wrote a child, one of many to share their thoughts neatly on a huge paper heart.

"The unity of Manchester is as bright as a million lights. As One. Thought is with everybody," wrote a boy called Umar, on a note attached to violet paper flowers.

Related Article:

Suspected Manchester bomber had 'desire for revenge'

Defiant Swedes unite, reject violence after truck attack

Yahoo – AFP, Ilgin KARLIDAG, April 9, 2017

People attend a memorial ceremony on April 9, 2017 at Sergels Torg plaza in
 Stockholm, close to the point where a truck drove into a department store two
days before (AFP Photo/Odd ANDERSEN)

Stockholm (AFP) - A carpet of flowers, candles and stuffed toys on Sunday covered the steps of a Stockholm shopping plaza where up to 50,000 people gathered for a vigil honouring the victims of last week's truck attack.

"We talk, we don't fight," Marianne said just a stone's throw from where the lorry mowed down shoppers before slamming into the facade of a popular department store, killing four people and injuring 15.

A 39-year-old Uzbek suspected of carrying out the attack had previously been refused residency in Sweden and had "shown sympathies for extremist organisations" such as the Islamic State group, the police said.

Although the motive is not yet known, the method resembled previous terror attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group.

"I think it's very important to stay strong together, against anything that endangers our society which is based on democracy," Marianne, who attended the vigil under sunny, spring skies with her elderly mother, added.

A woman handed out roses to two police officers guarding the square.

Mikael Berggren, a 36-year-old from Stockholm who brought his two children aged one and three to the vigil, said he would continue to live his life normally.

"They're too young to understand what happened," Berggren told AFP as he gazed towards his children.

"The attack will not change anything."

Called the "Love Manifestation", the vigil was created as an event on Facebook and attended by politicians, activists and performers.

Flags were, meanwhile, lowered to half mast in the normally vibrant city.

'We will win'

Karin Wanngard, Stockholm's mayor who spoke at the event, described the city as "open, loving and tolerant".

"Horror cannot prevail, horror may never win, we will win instead...(with) openness and kindness!" the Social Democrat said.

Daniel Holl, a 31-year-old German researcher living in Sweden, said he joined the rally to make a stand for unity among nations hit by attacks in recent years.

"Whether it's Berlin, Brussels, Paris or Stockholm you feel the same, it has nothing to do with nationality," he told AFP.

Gurgi Singh, 31, who moved to Stockholm from India a couple of months ago to learn Swedish, said he was not worried the attack would divide or polarise Sweden.

"Sweden or Stockholm is very supportive and people are always welcoming and helpful," he told AFP.

"If it's going do anything its going to make it more stronger than divided," he said, referring to Friday's attack.

For Charlotte, a Stockholm resident, the attack brought people closer even if they didn't always show it.

"This is the capital of Sweden, a lot of people are busy, running around, and we don’t even have time to say 'hi' sometimes because we are on the go," she told AFP.

"This is so nice to see that people really care, even if we don't show it everyday, you do care for the people around you.".