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Shops were vandalized and dozens were arrested Saturday night as protests continued in Barcelona and Madrid over the detention of Catalan rapper Pablo Hasél.
Protesters confronted the police, trashed stores and banks in Barcelona’s city center. More than 30 demonstrators were arrested in Barcelona on Saturday night, according to El País.
The demonstrations began on Tuesday after Hasél, a supporter of Catalan independence, was arrested for insulting the Spanish police and the monarchy on Twitter. Also charged with “glorifying terrorism,” he faces up to nine months in jail if found guilty.
Critics said the sentence was an attack against freedom of expression, but officials have condemned the violence that has spread since the arrest.
The Catalan regional government’s Interior Minister Miquel Sàmper said the demonstrations have morphed from being “an act of protest for freedom of expression” to “pure vandalism.”
Hasél was sentenced in 2018 on the same charges, and sentenced to two years in jail.
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