Rapper Pablo Hasél arrested at Lleida University

LleidaThe Catalan police have arrested the rapper Pablo Hasél at 8.27 in the morning inside the University of Lleida. He did not resist arrest, only shouted "they will never crush us" and slogans in defence of the struggle against the institutions. It was the end of a night and early morning in which the musician and a group of demonstrators had waited together to try to prevent the intervention of the police. The musician will have to serve a sentence of 9 months and 1 day in prison.

Hasél had locked himself in on Monday morning at the University of Lleida, where he has spent the last 24 hours. This morning dozens of police officers have entered the centre and have identified the people who locked themselves in to accompany him. The young people have shown no resistance. Pablo Hasél has been surrounded by a last cordon of demonstrators to delay the arrest and while the Mossos waited to arrest him, he made calls for "total amnesty". There were also shouts of "Freedom for Pablo Hasél" or "You can't take all the Pablos". The press was allowed to enter with the police

The rector of the University of Lleida, Jaume Puy, told Catalunya Ràdio that this end "means a failure". "It should never have come to this point. A failure on the part of those who have responsibilities in this matter," he said. He has explained that yesterday he spoke with Hasél when he locked himself in at the university and that he hoped to be able to reach an agreement. "I have no authority over the police, there is little I could do", he added. He also pointed out: "It is difficult to understand that a person who defends freedom enters a university and puts chains on the doors. Everyone has to fit in here as long as they use peaceful methods," said Puy, who regretted the images of the police at the university. "I opted for dialogue. The situation is complicated. In the university the only weapon is words and words are for convincing, not to winning. This is the path we were trying to take."

Last Friday, February 12, was the last day for Pablo Hasél to surrender voluntarily and go to Ponent prison to serve a sentence of nine months and one day in prison for glorification of terrorism and insults against the Crown. This Tuesday morning the Mossos have launched a device to arrest him.

Hasél this Monday at noon was locked up with a score of members of the platform in favor of his freedom in the building of the rectorate of the University of Lleida (UdL), with the intention of showing their opposition to the sentence.

The Mossos, this Tuesday morning, have mounted a device to stop the rapper. After accessing the rectorate building, the agents have gone up to the third floor, where Hasél was. The intention of the Mossos has been to remove the protesters one by one to identify them, although from the platform have made calls for more people to approach the building of the rectorate in support.

The rapper, aware that his arrest was a matter of hours, sent several tweets on Monday night: "We cannot allow them to dictate to us what to say, what to feel and what to do. If we do, their repression will have won, otherwise they will be weakened. They are very organised to deny us rights and freedoms, we can only organise ourselves better to conquer them," he said, and added: "I stayed here without going into exile to contribute more to spreading the message, to mobilisation and especially to organisation. They will imprison me with my head held high for not having given in to their terror, for having contributed my grain of sand to what I said. We can all do it".

The rapper has also indicated on Twitter that "injustice has its culprits" and that he has "pointed them out loud and clear, with legitimate and necessary rage". "They want to prevent us from explaining their criminal policies and enemies of the working class to prevent awareness and therefore the organised struggle. They will not succeed," he concluded