According to Spanish media estimates, about a thousand people took part in the protest in Barcelona, ​​while there were at least 6,000 on Saturday. Smaller protests also took place in Girona and Bilbao on Sunday, reports the German news agency DPA.
In Barcelona, ​​protesters chanted “Freedom for Pablo Hassel” in front of the main train station and then headed towards the city center. Some then set up barricades on Rambla’s central avenue.
A group of masked protesters also pelted police officers guarding the city headquarters with bottles, firecrackers and other objects. At least five people have been arrested for smashing the shop windows of a clothing store, police said on Twitter.
On Saturday, robbing the shops of luxury manufacturers
The mayor of Barcelona is on Saturday before the protests Ada Colau messages that “defending freedom of expression in no way justifies the destruction of property, the intimidation of our fellow citizens and the damage to companies already affected by the crisis“.
Protesters smashed shop windows at the fashionable Passeig de Gracia avenue at night and looted the shops of Nike, Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss and Diesel.
They also attacked the Barcelona Stock Exchange building and set fire to several motorcycles.
Since the protests began on Tuesday, a total of more than a hundred people, including 32 minors, have been detained in the Catalan capital and several other cities.
Just over 80 people, both protesters and police, have been injured so far. On Tuesday, a woman hit by a rubber bullet lost an eye.
Nine months in prison for “glorifying terrorism”
Protests began Tuesday night in Catalonia hours after a Catalan musician was jailed for condemning “the glorification of terrorism and the insult to the monarchy.” The 32-year-old was sentenced to nine months in prison. The glorification of terrorism was condemned for more than 60 tweets between 2014 and 2016, for insulting former King Philip VI. and accusing police of torturing and killing protesters and refugees and received a € 25,000 fine, the Guardian reports.
Amnesty International and prominent Spanish artists such as actor Javier Bardem and director Pedro Almodovar, meanwhile, claim Hasel has been punished for his artistic expression, undermining freedom of speech in Spain.
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