Woman loses eye after being shot with foam bullets by riot police in Hasél demonstration

The woman who was hit by a foam bullet fired by Catalan riot police has lost an eye according to Iridia. The events took place yesterday at the demonstration for the freedom of rapper Pablo Hasél. The victim has been operated today and Iridia has refused to give more information and has asked respect for the recovery of the injured protester.

Since April 2014, the Catalan police, known as the Mossos d'Esquadra, have changed rubber bullets for foam bullets, but several human rights organisations denounce that these are also very dangerous because they are fired with a precision weapon. The substitution came after the popular outrage after Esther Quintana lost an eye in a demonstration during a general strike two years earlier. Since then, four people have lost an eye due to the impact of foam bullets in protests over the sentencing of political prisoners in 2019. On 1 October 2017, the day of the referendum, Roger Español was left without vision in one eye by the impact of a rubber bullet, which the agents of the Spanish National Police fired to disperse the demonstrators, despite the fact that Parliament vetoed its use by the Mossos.

As reported this morning by police commissioner Joan Carles Molinero in a joint press conference with the Catalan Minister of Home Affairs, Miquel Sàmper, in which they have not mentioned this woman's case, yesterday's demonstration in Barcelona began with about 5,000 people gathered in the Lesseps square. The protest was peaceful until it moved and reached the Spanish Government's Delegation in Catalonia and, according to Mossos, some protesters began to throw blunt objects and burn containers and riots began.