BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – The imprisonment of a rap artist for his music and tweets praising terrorist violence and insulting the Spanish monarchy this week unleashed a dust of repressed anger in the southern European country.
Pablo Hasél’s arrest took thousands to the streets for various reasons.
Under the banner of freedom of expression, many Spaniards strongly oppose putting an artist behind bars for his lyrics and remarks on social media. They call on the Spanish left-wing government to keep its promise and withdraw the Public Security Act passed by the previous Conservative administration, which was used to prosecute Hasél and other artists.
Hasél Prison to serve a nine-month sentence on Tuesday also led to a well of frustration among young Spaniards, who have the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. Four out of 10 eligible workers under the age of 25 do not have a job.
“I think what we are experiencing now with the cases of Pablo Hasél (…) and other rapists politically detained by this regime is a brutal attack on freedom of expression,” said Pablo Castilla, a 26-year-old student protesting in Barcelona. . “Protests are being brutally repressed by the alleged progressive national government and the Catalan government.
“They attack us young people because we show our anger.”
For many, including older peaceful protesters, the Hasél case is also what they perceive as a difficult reaction by a state whose structure needs profound reform. This is even when some of his public remarks, especially in messages sent on Twitter, Hasél expressed radical ideas, spoke about the attack of politicians and defended Grapo and ETA, two armed organizations that killed over 1,000 people in Spain.
Hasél’s lyrics to King Felipe VI and his father, King Emeritus Juan Carlos I, have connected to a growing public debate over the future of Spain’s parliamentary monarchy. Undisputed outside the marginal circles of the left until the last decade, the royal house was affected by a financial scandal that even reached Juan Carlos. Many Spaniards were horrified when the former monarch left Spain for the United Arab Emirates amid a judicial investigation into his alleged tax misconduct..
In addition to shouting support for Hasél, a crowd that gathered in Madrid on Saturday chanted “Where is the change? Where is the progress? ”And“ Juan Carlos de Borbón, woman and thief ”.
The debate has sparked tensions within Spain’s left-wing coalition government. While Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and his Socialist Party support the parliamentary monarchy that Spain has enjoyed since the end of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship in the 1970s, their minor partner, the United We Can party, wants to get rid of the monarchy and supported this week’s protests for Hasél despite their violent turn.
In the native region of the rapper in Catalonia, the disturbances appear even after years of separatist politicians urging citizens to ignore or not listen to court decisions unfavorable to their case. Although this week’s protests lack widespread calls for Catalonia’s independence or flags supporting the secession of the industrial region, the head of public security for Barcelona City Hall said many of the most violent criminals were also heavily involved in the 2019 riots. which led to the imprisonment of several separatist leaders.
“It’s a varied, violent profile that we’re already familiar with, because it’s very similar to those who played a major role in the October 2019 incidents, so we know the guy,” Albert Batlle, a member of Barcelona City Council, told Cadena SER radio.
Some leading pro-secessionist politicians have strongly criticized the management of the protests by the Catalan police, who made more than 35 arrests on Saturday night alone.
What began as peaceful, albeit angry, protests by thousands in Barcelona and other nearby cities degenerated into ugly incidents, the nightfall caused by a violent minority aimed at destroying property and fighting the police.
“I think we need to differentiate between those who come here in support of Pablo Hasél’s freedom and those who don’t,” said 19-year-old Joana Junca. “The street barricades to defend themselves are fine. But those who go there just to revolt do not have my support. ”
Mossos d’Esquadra police said on Monday that 61 of the 75 people arrested in the Catalan capital since the protests broke out on February 16 were 25 or younger, including 24 minors. Three out of four had Spanish citizenship and 26 of them had previous competitions with the authorities for public disturbances or theft.
In that divisive group of people in trouble, some of whom are being robbed in a timely manner, Catalonia’s regional interior minister, Miquel Sàmper, told TV3 regional broadcaster on Sunday that what was “a protest against freedom of expression” has evolved. to “acts of pure vandalism. ”
Police point to small groups heading to sporting goods stores and other stores, while law enforcement officers are engaged in clashes and barricades to clean burning garbage containers and metal barriers scattered on the streets. Police described what they called “robbery” by “some people who take advantage of the disruption and coverage of large numbers of people.”
Then there are those, mostly outraged teenagers, who seem to be motivated by an anarchist, anti-police bent and try to disrupt public order by any means possible. He works in fast-moving packages, breaking shop windows and throwing away bank offices. They choose their moments to stop running and target the police with the coordinated throwing of stones and other objects. Police tied up sticks and fired foam bullets after pouring from riot vans to disperse them – and the pursuit continued.
Eleven police officers were injured on Tuesday night when a crowd attacked a police station in the Catalan city of Vic.
“The attack on the Vic station was a turning point,” Imma Viudes, a spokeswoman for the SAP-Fepol union for Catalan police, told Spanish National Radio. “We do not have the means to control this mass violence. (…) Someone will have to put his fist down. ”
On Sunday, on their way to throw bottles and firecrackers at a police station in Barcelona, a group of mostly black-clad youths marched behind a banner they defiantly planted in front of a line of police vans.
It read, “You have taught us that being peaceful is useless.”
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AP journalists Aritz Parra in Madrid and Renata Brito in Barcelona contributed to this report.