Protesters Throw Rocks At Police In Barcelona On Seventh Day Of Riots Staged Across Spain

MADRID (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd February, 2021) Protests over the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasel continued for the seventh day in a row in Spain, several arrests were made as protesters threw stones and other objects at law enforcement officers in Barcelona, Mossos d'Esquadra, the police force of Catalonia, said.

"In Barcelona during the incidents this evening, we arrested two people for pending legal proceedings and another for public disorder," Mossos d'Esquadra said on Twitter late on Monday.

In earlier Tweets, police said that protesters were throwing bottles and rocks at officers, setting up barricades using trash cans and setting them on fire. According to Mossos d'Esquadra, local residents voiced disapproval of the protesters' actions.

Protests were also held in Girona and Tarragona on Monday.

On Sunday, 8 people were arrested during protests in Barcelona, 5 for robbery in a clothing store and 3 for public disorder and assault on law enforcement officers. At least 7 police officers were injured, according to Mossos d'Esquadra.

According to the Medical Emergency System of the Catalonia Department of Health, 11 people were injured during the Sunday protests.

On Saturday, over 30 people were detained during protests in Barcelona, Lleida and Tarragona. Protesters set up barricades in the center of Barcelona on Saturday and set them on fire. They also set fire to parked motorcycles and mopeds and threw rocks at police. Shops were looted and some notable buildings, including the music hall and the stock exchange, were damaged. Over a dozen people were injured.

Protests began in Spain last week, after the arrest of Catalan rapper Pablo Hasel. In 2018, Hasel was sentenced to nine months in prison for glorifying terrorism and slandering the Spanish monarchy in more than 60 tweets published between 2014 and 2016, as well as in one of his songs posted on YouTube. The rapper was supposed to voluntarily report to prison earlier this month but refused to do so. He was arrested on Tuesday, February 16.