The rapper Pablo Hasél publicly etched against the Spanish monarchy and the police. For this he is sentenced to nine months in prison. After his arrest, violence erupts on the streets of many cities.
Thousands of people protested in several cities in Spain against the arrest of the rapper Pablo Hasél for insulting the monarchy. At the rallies on Tuesday evening there were clashes between demonstrators and the police in Barcelona, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca and Girona, among others.
In the center of the Catalan capital Barcelona, the protesters set fire to, among other things, garbage containers – around 2,000 according to media estimates. They erected street barricades and pelted the officials with stones, bottles and firecrackers and chanted slogans such as “Freedom for Pablo Hasél” or “Death to the Spanish regime”. A young protester was seriously injured in one eye, reported the newspaper “La Vanguardia”. Videos showing violence, vandalism and chaotic scenes circulated on social networks.
On Tuesday morning, the police arrested the rapper who had been sentenced to prison for insulting the monarchy and glorifying violence. Hasél barricaded himself in the university in the Catalan city of Lleida. The 32-year-old, whose real name is Pablo Rivadulla Duró, had refused to serve the prison sentence voluntarily. Dozens of students trying to avoid arrest were taken away by the police.
A special unit of the police in Catalonia arrested the rapper Pablo Hasél: In many cities in Spain, people took to the streets in protest. (Source: Lorena Sopêna I Lòpez / EUROPA PRESS / dpa)
Sentenced to prison for insulting majesty
A court sentenced the musician, known in Spain for his sometimes radical texts, to nine months for insulting the royal family and glorifying violence in his lyrics. Hasél called former King Juan Carlos I, who fled to Abu Dhabi after allegations of corruption and in view of judicial investigations, among other things, as a “thief” and built fantasies of violence against conservative politicians into his texts. He himself sees this as being covered by freedom of expression.
In the short message service Twitter Hasél wrote: “I am locked in the University of Lleida with some supporters. So you have to break in here if you want to arrest me and put me in prison.” In a telephone conversation with the AFP news agency, he had previously described Spain as a “democracy forgery”.
At the moment of the arrest Hasél protested with the words: “It is the fascist state that arrests me. Death to the fascist state!” A police spokesman said, “We’re taking him straight to jail.”
Spain announced law reform
Last week, the Spanish government announced a reform of the criminal law, whereby “verbal excesses in the context of artistic, cultural or intellectual” actions should no longer fall under criminal law. Vice-Prime Minister Carmen Calvo did not want to comment on Hasél’s arrest. Referring to the plans to reform criminal law, she said that freedom of expression must have “room for understanding and tolerance in a mature democracy like ours”. For the rapper, however, this initiative comes too late.
Demonstrators in Barcelona: Chaotic scenes after the arrest of the rapper Pablo Hasél. (Source: Emilio Morenatti / AP / dpa)
For many Spaniards, the Hasél case brings back memories of the rapper Valtonyc, who was convicted of similar allegations in 2018 and then fled to Belgium. The extradition of Valtonyc requested by Spain is rejected by Brussels on the grounds that the allegations against him are not a criminal offense in Belgium. The left-wing party Podemos, which was involved in the government, criticized Hasél’s arrest. Anyone who thinks they are progressive should be “ashamed”, it said in a Twitter message.
The sentence against Hasél had already sparked protests in Spain. A petition demanding the rapper’s release has been signed by more than 200 artists, including well-known director Pedro Almodóvar and Hollywood star Javier Bardem. There have been several protests in Madrid and Barcelona over the past few weeks.
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