BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Protests in favor of a jailed rapper turned violent for the sixth night in a row in Barcelona on Sunday with clashes between police and groups of mostly angry young people in the center of the Spanish city.
As in previous days, Sunday began with a peaceful protest in Barcelona, where graffiti artists painted a mural criticizing the King of Spain Felipe VI and his father, the former King Juan Carlos I, to show what they called solidarity with rapper Pablo Hasél.
But as night fell, tension rose as protesters mostly dressed in dark clothes marched through the city center to the National Police headquarters.
After half an hour of being dragged by rocks, bottles, rubbish and firecrackers, the Catalan police settled backed by vans to clean the street from the station. The shops in the center of Barcelona were once again the target of vandals who broke glass.
More than 100 people, including seven on Sunday, have been arrested for violent clashes with police since Hasel was arrested. on Tuesday to serve a nine-month prison sentence for his tweets and letters that insulted the Spanish monarch and praised terrorist violence.
Catalan police said more than 35 arrests were made in Barcelona and other nearby cities on Saturday after riots broke shop windows and clashes with police. Other protests throughout Spain, including the capital of Madrid, continued to be peaceful.