BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Protests over the imprisonment of a rapper convicted of insulting the Spanish monarchy and praising terrorist violence were sparked by riots for the third night in a row on Thursday.
The difficult situation of Pablo Hasél, who this week began serving a 9-month sentence in a prison in the north-east, has sparked a heated debate on the limits of freedom of expression in Spain and a political storm over the use of violence. by the rapper’s supporters, as well as by the police.
The junior partner of the ruling coalition, the far-left party United We Can (Unidas Podemos), on Thursday filed a petition for “total pardon” for Hasél and another rapper, Valtònyc, who fled to Belgium in 2018 to avoid trial on based on accusations of “glorifying” terrorism.
But potentially deepening tensions, judicial authorities in the north-eastern region of Catalonia have announced that Hasél has recently lost an appeal and is facing an additional 2-and-a-half years in prison for obstructing justice and assault in 2017. The sentence could be attacked again the Supreme Court of the country.
Like the previous two nights, the protests began on Thursday with large rallies in several cities that were, at first, largely peaceful.
In the regional capital of Catalonia, Barcelona, hundreds sang songs, kidnapped and shouted “Pablo Hasél, freedom!” and “Spanish media, manipulators!” in a central square, before dozens break up the main group to light a barricade of garbage containers and a construction jump that blocked a main artery of the city, throwing stones, bottles and other objects at the riot police.
There were moments of tension when the flames threatened to spread to nearby buildings before firefighters arrived.
In the eastern city of Valencia, police used sticks to disperse protesters and arrested at least eight people, according to the Spanish government’s regional delegation.
Nearly 80 people have been arrested and more than 100 injured since Hasél was taken from a university where he sought refuge after refusing to volunteer in prison.
The facades of several political party headquarters were graffitied, a police station in Vic was beaten and protesters significantly damaged storefronts and bank offices in several cities, including the capital, Madrid.
Catalan regional police have also launched an internal investigation to determine whether one of their foam bullets hit a young man who lost an eye in protest.
The rapper and his supporters say that Hasél’s nine-month sentence for writing a critical song about former King Juan Carlos I and dozens of tweets that judges said glorified some of Spain’s deadly terrorist groups violates rights to free speech.
In addition to this case, the rapper has previously faced other charges or has pending trials for aggression, praising armed extremist groups, entering private premises and insulting the monarchy.
Its legal status has attracted considerable public attention, as it comes after a number of other artists and social media personalities were tried for violating Spain’s 2015 Public Security Act, which was adopted by a previous Conservative-led government and criticized. by human rights organizations. .
One of them was Valtònyc, who has so far avoided extradition from Belgium.
United We Can parliamentary spokesman Jaume Asens said on Thursday that the party had taken the first step in demanding an “urgent” and “total” pardon for both kidnappers. Forgiveness is a bureaucratic process and requires the final approval of the Spanish government, which is currently in the hands of a left-wing coalition led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the Asens party.
And while both sides have agreed to amend the penal code to remove prison sentences for crimes involving freedom of expression, the protests also opened the last division in the shaky partnership after the opposition praised United We Can for he did not publicly condemn the violent protests.
Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo, a member of the center-left Socialist Party, also criticized a United We Can spokeswoman, who expressed support for what she called “anti-fascist protesters fighting for freedom of expression.”
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Associated Press journalists Ciarán Giles and Aritz Parra from Madrid contributed to this report.