BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Protests in support of an imprisoned rapper became violent for the sixth consecutive night in Barcelona on Sunday, with clashes between police and mostly angry youth groups in the center of the Spanish city.
As in previous days, Sunday started with a peaceful protest in Barcelona, where graffiti artists painted a mural criticizing Spanish king Felipe VI and his father, ex-king Juan Carlos I, to show what they called solidarity with rapper Pablo Hasel.
But as night fell, tension increased as protesters, mostly dressed in dark clothes, marched through the city center to the headquarters of the National Police.
After half an hour of being shot at with stones, bottles, garbage and fireworks, the Catalan police entered with vans in order to clean the street from the police station. The shops in the city center of Barcelona were once again the target of vandals who broke windows.
More than 100 people, including seven on Sunday, have been arrested in violent clashes with the police since Hasél was arrested on Tuesday to serve a nine-month prison sentence for his tweets and lyrics that insulted the Spanish monarch and praised the terrorist violence.
Catalan police said on Saturday more than 35 arrests were made in Barcelona and other nearby cities after protesters smashed shop windows and fought battles with police. Other protests across Spain, including the capital Madrid, have remained peaceful.