Fifth night of riots in Spain following the imprisonment of Pablo Hásel

Various Spanish cities, mainly in Barcelona, ​​experienced new riots this Saturday due to violent protests in support of rapper Pablo Hasel, imprisoned last Tuesday for crimes of glorifying terrorism and insults to the Crown, with fires of containers and street furniture and looting of businesses.

The city most affected by street violence is Barcelona, ​​mainly the city center, where the luxury brand stores, victims of the wrath of groups of protesters who smashed windows and looted many of these stores, according to police sources.

Previously, the demonstration in support of Hasel had gathered 6,000 people including a group of hooded men was not marked which caused significant damage to stores in the Barcelona shopping center.

After the the same group formed several barricades burning containers and street furniture, in addition to setting fire to the doors of the Barcelona Stock Exchange building, although the flames did not affect the interior of the building and could be suffocated shortly after by firefighters

So far, police have arrested more than 60 people for their participation in the altercations.

In the afternoon, hundreds of people demonstrated in Malaga, Córdoba and Seville, in the south of the country, reported local media, while in the towns of Santander and Logroño, in the north, protests were also organized, with around 100 participants each.

However, today’s demonstration in Madrid, which has gathered more than a hundred people, has developed peacefully, amid a strong police force intended to prevent a repeat of the riots last Wednesday.

The center of Madrid was scene that day of some altercations, replica of those which occurred in Barcelona due to Hasel’s admission to prison, which resulted in 19 people arrested and 55 injured, including 35 police officers, and material damage to stores in the region.

On this occasion, the demonstrators unfurled banners with captions such as “Liberty Pablo Hasel” The “Acquittal detained” and they sang songs like “Here are the anti-fascists, Libertad Libertad, arrested for having fought”, “Long live the struggle of the working class” The “Fascist state, terrorist state”But the presence of the police prevented acts of violence.

Hasél, 32, was sentenced to nine months in prison for extolling terrorism in a few tweets where he described King Juan Carlos I as a “Mafioso”, greeted those involved in the attacks and accused the police of killing and torturing migrants and protesters.

Lleida hearing confirmed this Thursday another two and a half year sentence for rapper Pablo Hasél for threatening a witness of a lawsuit against certain urban guards of this city, a sentence which could be added to the nine months of prison which he is serving for his messages against the Spanish company.

The court upheld the conviction, which found Hasel guilty of the crimes of obstructing justice, threats and ill-treatment at work, two days after entering prison to serve a nine-month sentence for extolling terrorism, which the National High Court ruled out from suspending him.

The new conviction can still be appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justice of Lleida has not yet decided to force the rapper to serve this new sentence.

With information from EFE and AFP

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