{"id":113195,"date":"2021-02-17T13:48:38","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/?p=113195"},"modified":"2021-02-17T13:48:38","modified_gmt":"2021-02-17T13:48:38","slug":"riots-in-spain-leave-30-injured-after-arrest-of-rapper-who-praised-terror-group-and-insulted-mafia-boss-ex-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/precoinnews.com\/world-news\/riots-in-spain-leave-30-injured-after-arrest-of-rapper-who-praised-terror-group-and-insulted-mafia-boss-ex-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Riots in Spain leave 30 injured after arrest of rapper who praised terror group and insulted 'mafia boss' ex-King"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORE than 30 people were injured and 15 arrested in a night of violence in Spain following the arrest of a controversial rapper.<\/p>\n

Eight people needed hospital treatment after riot police clashed with protesters in Barcelona and several other Catalan cities, as well as Valencia a three-hour drive south.<\/p>\n


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Nearly 20 of the casualties are police officers.<\/p>\n

The violence flared after thousands of people heeded a call to join demonstrations to demand the release of Catalan rapper Pablo Hasel, 33.<\/p>\n

He was arrested yesterday after dozens of police stormed Lleida University in north-east Spain to take him to jail to start a nine month sentence.<\/p>\n

As he was led to a patrol car, Hasel raised his fist and yelled to television cameras: \u201cThey will never silence us. Death to the fascist state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The musician had barricaded himself inside the university in his home city with supporters after missing Friday's deadline to enter prison voluntarily.<\/p>\n

A court had convicted Hasel, real name Pablo Rivadulla Duro, on charges of glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in a series of tweets.<\/p>\n

He praised members of Basque terrorist group ETA, and called scandal-hit former king Juan Carlos a "mafia boss".<\/p>\n


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Last night hundreds of Hasel's supporters gathered in Lleida and thousands marched in Barcelona.<\/p>\n

Demonstrators were filmed throwing bottles and setting wheelie bins on fire soon after the start of their 7pm protest.<\/p>\n

Police responded with sponge bullets, hitting one youngster in the eye who was among the eight people rushed to hospital.<\/p>\n

In Vic, an hour north of Barcelona, the town police HQ was badly damaged.<\/p>\n

Protests also turned violent in Reus, where banks were targeted, and in Girona.<\/p>\n

Police also clashed with demonstrators in a main square in Valencia, which is outside Catalonia. <\/p>\n

The regional Mossos d\u2019Esquadra police force said overnight: \u201cGroups of violent protesters have caused serious incidents in Barcelona, Girona and Lleida, setting light to barricades, burning street furniture and destroying everything they came across in their path.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe police station in Vic has also been vandalised and several police officers have been hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n


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A spokesman, confirming the number of police casualties and arrests, added this morning: \u201cThe information we have at the moment is that there have been 15 arrests across Catalonia, two in Barcelona, five in Vic and eight in Lleida.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeventeen Mossos officers have been injured, four in Barcelona, 11 in Vic and two in Lleida.\u201d<\/p>\n

Police began advising the public to stay away from parts of Barcelona just after 9pm last night.<\/p>\n

The force said in tweets: \u201cIn Barcelona they are setting mopeds and motorbikes on fire and setting light to containers they are using as barricades in Passeig de Gracia.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Gran de Gracia, people wearing hoodies are looting shops and throwing missiles at police from behind burning barricades.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor your own safety stay away from the area.\u201d<\/p>\n


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A spokesman for regional emergency medical service SEM confirmed 33 people including the 17 police officers hurt had needed medical attention and eight of the casualties had been taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

Hasel was made to enter jail because of an earlier two-year prison sentence for glorifying terrorism in song lyrics, which ended up being suspended.<\/p>\n

One of the lyrics said in Spanish: \u201cI think about bullets that reach the necks of Nazi judges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judges who convicted him found him guilty of hate speech which breached freedom of expression boundaries.<\/p>\n

Prison sentences of two years or less for first-time offenders are normally suspended in Spain, which is why he was spared jail after his first conviction.<\/p>\n

The rapper\u2019s second conviction meant jail was unavoidable.<\/p>\n

More than 200 artists including Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and Hollywood actor Javier Bardem signed a petition opposing Hasel\u2019s jail sentence.<\/p>\n

Police were preparing themselves for more violence later today as new demonstrations have been organised in several cities including Madrid.<\/p>\n

Basque separatist group ETA killed at least 829 people in a 40-campaign of bombings and assassinations.<\/p>\n

It declared a ceasefire in 2011 and said it had dismantled itself for good in 2018.<\/p>\n

Former king Juan Carlos, 83, flew to a luxury resort in Abu Dhabi in August after Swiss prosecutors opened an investigation into bank accounts he allegedly held in tax havens. He now faces three criminal probes in Spain.<\/p>\n

Last week he was forced to deny reports he was seriously ill. He told a magazine he was in "perfect" health and did two hours in the gym each day.<\/p>\n


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