He stood by a sign that read: 'I am Muslim, I am not a terrorist. I share hugs of love and peace.' The words were written in Catalan, Spanish, English, Arabic and French. [...] The man's gesture echoes the reaction of other Muslims following previous Islamist terror attacks.

An international forum held in Barcelona this week provided representatives of civil society and local government a chance to tell their uplifting stories of effort [...] to receive and integrate refugees into their communities. Organised by the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia, the one-day event saw a series of experts, officials and activists give their accounts of schemes and initiatives to care for new arrivals and, in the process, cast a much more favourable light on Europe.

Online activism is a frequently debated topic amongst journalists and researchers alike. What effect can a popular Twitter hashtag really have in achieving political or social change? Wasim Ahmed looks in depth at last year’s heavily tweeted #ThisIsACoup hashtag.

The President Suñol Box at the Camp Nou had some very special guests today in the form of the regional, state, European and Latin American MPs that are in Barcelona to monitor Sunday’s elections to the Catalan Parliament. FC Barcelona has formed part of the Council for Public Diplomacy in Catalonia (DIPLOCAT), [...] to inform the outside world about Catalonia and at same time raise its profile internationally.
 

FC Barcelona defender Dani Alves sparked a global anti-racism protest by eating a banana that was thrown at him during Sunday's match at Villareal. Alves picked it up, peeled it, and then ate it before taking a corner kick. Barcelona forward Neymar later kicked off the global trend, tweeting an Instagram image of the incident using #SomosTodosMacacos ("We are all monkeys"). The hashtag has since been shared more than 64,000 times.

When Barcelona meet Brazilian side Santos in a friendly on Friday at the Camp Nou, there will be a quick dash to the airport afterwards. They’ve got places to be. People to see. Peace to spread. On Saturday afternoon Barca will be in the Middle East as part of their Peace Tour initiative, as Lionel Mesi, Neymar and a whole host of stars will visit Palestine and Israel over the weekend.