For the fifth night in a row, there were riots and looting in Spain after the imprisonment of Pablo Hasel

The fifth night of protests against the imprisonment of a Spanish rapper ended with clashes between police and members of fringe groups, who barricaded the streets and smashed the windows of several stores on Saturday night in the center of Barcelona.

Small groups of mostly young people started their nighttime cat-and-mouse game with the police about an hour after thousands of protesters gathered in the capital of the Catalan region of Spain, which was the scene of the worst incidents of violence. week because of the arrest of rapper Pablo Hasél.

Officers were also attacked with stones during a march in the Catalan town of Lleida, where Hasél spent 24 hours barricaded in the university building before police arrested him to serve a sentence of nine months in prison for insulting the monarchy and praising terrorist violence through his songs.

Catalonia regional police reported that there had also been riots in the city of Tarragona, in which several protesters threw glass bottles at officers and smashed windows.

Police reported at least 11 arrests on Saturday, including those of three minors. The most serious incidents occurred on Paseo de Gracia, Barcelona’s most luxurious avenue, which has luxury goods stores and modernist-style apartment buildings considered architectural treasures.

Crowds raced down the avenue, smashing store windows, knocking over motorcycles, erecting metal barricades and setting garbage containers on fire to prevent police from passing. Some even rushed into the ranks of the officers, who used their shields to ward off the stone shower. Police said they identified a young man who had pointed a laser at a police helicopter for about two hours.

After deploying armored vehicles, the police wielded batons and fired rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

The unrest is apparently caused by a marginal group of young people who constitute a small proportion of the thousands of participants in the marches in support of Hasél and against the laws under which he was convicted.

Since Hasél’s arrest on Tuesday, around 90 people have been arrested and more than 100 injured in the riots.

Barcelona mayor Ada Colau urged to stay calm.

“Defending freedom of expression does not in any way justify destroying property, scaring our citizens and damaging businesses already affected by the crisis,” Colau said.

Last week, Spain’s left-wing government announced before Hasél’s arrest that it would reform the law to eliminate prison sentences for crimes involving freedom of expression. He did not specifically refer to the rapper or set a specific date for the reforms, and his pledge apparently did not serve to ease social tensions over the Hasél affair.