Published 14:03 IST, February 20th 2021
Spain: Violent demonstrations over rapper's imprisonment continue for fourth night
Police officers in Spain's northeastern region of Catalonia said demonstrators pelted cops with bottles, stones, fireworks, and paint in Barcelona.
- World News
- 3 min read
Violent protests over the imprisonment of a rapper continued for a fourth straight night in Spain on February 19. According to Associated Press, police officers in the northeastern region of Catalonia said that demonstrators pelted cops with bottles, stones, fireworks, and paint in Barcelona and at least three other places. Protesters even set fire to large street trash containers and used them to block streets.
In Barcelona, some protesters broke into two bank branches and tried to set a fire inside. Other vandalised and ransacked stores, police said. Furthermore, in Girona, demonstrators smashed the windows of three banks.
‘Government will take stand…’
Nearly 80 people, including four on Friday, had been arrested and more than 100 injured since rapper Pablo Hasél was arrested and began to serve a 9-month prison sentence after his conviction for insulting the Spanish monarchy and praising terrorist violence. The protests raged after Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez said that violence is “inadmissible”, in comments that accentuated a rift with his coalition government’s junior partner. The leader had even addressed the rioting earlier this week that ignited a heated debate over the limits of free speech in the country and a political storm over the use of violence by both the rapper’s support and the police.
Sánchez had said, “Violence is an attack on democracy and the government will take a stand against any form of violence to ensure people’s safety”.
Further, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska also condemned the violence and thanked the police for their efforts. She said that the government would continue to “guarantee the rights and freedoms of all society against a minority whose misguided idea of rights makes them have recourse to violence”. It is worth noting that Sánchez and Grande-Marlaska belong to the Socialist party, which heads the coalition government. The senior members of the coalition’s junior partner, the far-left United We Can party, on the other hand, have spoken out in the support of the protesters and criticized police after a protester lost an eye, allegedly due to a foam bullet fired by cops.
Meanwhile, several people including artists, celebrities, and politicians have expressed support for a change in the country’s so-called “Gag law” covering freedom of expression. Last week, the government had unexpectedly announced that it would change the law to scrap prison terms for offenses involving freedom of expression. But it did not specifically mention Pablo or set a timetable for the changes.
(With inputs from AP)
Updated 14:03 IST, February 20th 2021
