A GROUP of Spaniards on holiday in Munich, Germany, have described how they hid in the cashpoint lobby of a bank when they heard the shots ring out, instantly fearing a terrorist attack on the scale of the Paris massacre in November.
"At times like this, you only think about running for cover - fear stops anything else going through your head," said one of the visitors from Loja (Granada province), local radio DJ Juan María Jiménez.
The 10 Spaniards, all from the same town and aged between 23 and 65, were about five kilometres from the shopping centre where a young gunman ran amok.
They were fairly near the central Karisplatz, which was evacuated after warnings of a second shoot-out that turned out to be unfounded.
"We were in a shop when the till lady's facial expression suddenly changed, and a voice in German ordered everyone to get out of the mall," Jiménez explains.
"Everyone started running at once and seeking cover."
His party ran into the street and took refuge in the lobby of a bank, from which they had a clear view of how the streets suddenly emptied of pedestrians and filled up with patrol cars with sirens blaring, and armed police carrying machine guns.
"We saw a police officer nearby and when we went to ask him what was happening, he ran with his machine gun pointed into a nearby side-street, so we just got back inside," Jiménez explained.
When they were able to do so, the 'Granada 10' hid inside a nearby luxury hotel, at the advice of the Spanish Consulate, whom they rang from their hiding place.
They shared the tense few moments in the lobby with another five Spaniards wh
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