Third night of riots over Hasél's imprisonment

Protesters burn containers and clash with police in Barcelona and Valencia

2 min
Firefighters extinguish the barricade at the junction of Aragón and Bailén streets

Third consecutive day of protests across the country over the imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasel. In Barcelona the demonstration began at 7pm with a few hundred people gathered in Tetuan Square, where they sang rap and there was a rather festive atmosphere, before moving through the centre of the Catalan capital. They stopped in front of the Department of Home Affairs, which was guarded by numerous vans and agents of the Catalan police. Some demonstrators, when they were in front of the headquarters of the newspaper El Periódico, painted graffiti and threw stones at the newspaper's windows and broke them.

After this route, the demonstrators ended up setting up barricades at the intersection of Carrer d'Aragó and Bailén: they piled up several rubbish containers and set them on fire. The flames burnt part of the trees on the pavements and some neighbours, fearful that the fire would burn spread to their building, threw water out of the windows. Shortly afterwards, however, firefighters put out the blaze without any problems. The demonstrators also built barricades and set fire to containers at the intersection of Passeig de Sant Joan and València, Aragó and Mallorca streets. Later, when it began to be calmer, the Mossos did the "carousel" manoeuver - driving vans at high speed in circles close to protestors - to finish dispersing the demonstrators who still remained between Carrer Bailen, Carrer d'Aragó and Passeig de Sant Joan,

Barricades on Aragó and Bailén

Beyond Barcelona, about 200 people have demonstrated in Tarragona and, although the protest is taking place peacefully, some of the participants have knocked down containers on Catalunya Avenue and moved them to the centre of the road. In front of the courts, guarded by a cordon of riot police of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the demonstrators have shouted slogans against the police and in favor of the singer. Then they have moved to the A-7 highway, which had already been cut off - probably as preventive action by the police - and shortly afterward the protest broke up.

Demonstrators march down Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes

At the same time, in Sabadell, according to the Mossos, some demonstrators have thrown eggs, fences and bottles at the police line, in front of the police station of the National Police Corps. There were also barricades with containers ablaze. On the other hand, in Valencia there have also been police charges.

Meanwhile, the Sindicat d'Estudiants dels Països Catalans (SEPC) has called for a student strike in the universities to protest against the imprisonment of Hasél and the arrests that have taken place during these days of protests and riots. In the manifesto, the SEPC recalls that Hasél was arrested at the University of Lleida, defends that universities must be free of police and repression and calls for amnesty for all detainees. It also proposes the independence of Catalonia to achieve it.

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