Second night of tension in Spain due to imprisonment of Pablo Hasél, the rapper convicted of tweeting against Juan Carlos I

For the second night in a row, Spain records protests in its main cities against the imprisonment of Pablo Hasél, the Catalan rapper arrested Tuesday morning for tweeting against the monarchy and the police. The highest concentrations are in Madrid and Barcelona, ​​where new incidents have been recorded between protesters and the police.

Hundreds of people gathered in central Madrid to demand the release of Hasél, arrested in Lleida to serve the sentence handed down by the national court for a crime of glorifying terrorism and insults and calumnies after posting threatening messages on social media.

The act of protest in Madrid, which does not have permission from the government delegation, began around 7:00 p.m. in Puerta del Sol under a heavy police force after altercations recorded during Tuesday’s calls in various parts of Catalonia such as Barcelona, ​​Lleida, Girona, Vic (Barcelona) and Reus (Tarragona), as well as in the city of Valencia.

With banners on which we could read the currency ‘Kidnapped by the State Everyone in the streets! Let’s conquer their freedom! The “Pablo Hasél, Liberty. Out with Franco’s Justice ‘The concentration began with a festive atmosphere under songs to demand the release of the Catalan rapper from prison.

At one point, Masked protesters burned street furniture and threw bottles at riot police, who in turn charged them with rubber bullets and tear gas.

In Barcelona, where, on Tuesday evening, protests led to violent clashes with police, altercations were again recorded, people throwing objects at officers and barricaded with burnt garbage cans.

Before these events, in the demonstration of some 2,200 people, according to figures from the Barcelona Urban Guard, cries of “Liberty Pablo Hasél” were heard, while other people knocked with microphones and loudspeakers. speakers. In parallel, other demonstrations took place in several Catalan cities and in other regions of Spain.

‘Liberty, Pablo Hasél’, the congregation chanted insistently in front of the seat of government of the Community of Madrid, most of them wear masks because of COVID-19 but do not always stay within the recommended safety distance. “Here are the anti-fascists”, “Madrid will be the tomb of fascism” or “The fight continues, whatever the cost”, are other songs that have been repeated the most.

Banners like “ Enough censorship ” or “ No to the gag law ” “ Censorship = tyranny ” and drawings of faces with mouths covered with a cross flooded a Puerta de Sol surrounded by vans of the national police, troops that the congregation challenged with cries of “police of our streets” or “Nazi by day, the night police”.

On Tuesday, several demonstrations in various Catalan cities, in which thousands of people participated, ended in riots that resulted in 15 arrests and 33 injured, including 17 Catalan police officers.

Hasél was held on Tuesday at a university in Lleida, his hometown, where he barricaded himself with supporters to avoid being arrested.

The rapper has started serving a nine-month prison sentence for tweeting against the monarchy and the security forces.

Hasél’s case sparked a heated debate over freedom of expression in Spain.

In addition, it caused embarrassment in the ruling left-wing coalition, chaired by socialist Pedro Sánchez, which has vowed to review the penal code so that these types of crimes are not punished with prison terms.

His minority partner, the left-wing radical Podemos, said on Tuesday that he would apologize to the rapper, who has received the support of celebrities in the country such as filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar, actor Javier Bardem or singer Joan Manuel Serrat.

With information from AFP and EFE

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Arrested and injured during protests for the arrest of Pablo Hasél, the rapper convicted of tweeting against the monarchy

The harsh messages for which rapper Pablo Hasél was convicted and which sparked the debate on freedom of expression