On 16 February 2021, the Catalan rapper

Pablo Hasél Pablo Rivadulla Duró (born 9 August 1988), known artistically as Pablo Hasél, is a Catalonia, Catalan rapper, writer, poet, and political activist. His songs and actions, often controversial and in support of far-left politics, have led to a ...

was arrested and imprisoned in his hometown of

Lleida Lleida (, ; ; '' see below'') is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital and largest town in Segrià county, the Ponent region and the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

for two final sentences by order of the

Audiencia Nacional The Audiencia Nacional (; ) is a high court in Spain with jurisdiction over all of the Spanish territory. It is specialised in certain kinds of crime, having original jurisdiction over major crimes such as those committed against the Crown and i ...

in Madrid: a 2-year prison sentence for glorification of terrorism in his songs and a second sentence of 9 months in prison for glorification of terrorism in a song and several tweets, as well as a fine of 10,800 euros for

Lèse-majesté ''Lèse-majesté'' or ''lese-majesty'' ( , ) is an offence or defamation against the dignity of a ruling head of state (traditionally a monarch but now more often a president) or of the state itself. The English name for this crime is a mod ...

and another of 6,750 euros for insulting state institutions, which add up to days in prison for each instalment he fails to pay. His imprisonment sparked a wave of protests and has coincided with the government's announcement of a reform of crimes related to

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

. Starting from that night, supporters protested in several cities across Spain, with some protests involving violence and property damage. The protests caused rifts in Spain's coalition government, between

PSOE The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

members supportive of the police, and Podemos members supportive of protests.

Protests

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, the capital of Catalonia, looting occurred at banks and businesses. A female protester in the city lost an eye from a foam bullet fired by the

Mossos d'Esquadra The ''Mossos d'Esquadra'' (; ), also known as the ''Policia de la Generalitat de Catalunya'' and informally as ''Mossos'', is the State police#Spain, regional police force in the autonomous community of Catalonia. They trace their origins back ...

, the police force of Catalonia. Violent unrest occurred in other Catalan cities, including Hasél's hometown of Lleida, as well as

Vic Vic, vic or VIC may refer to: People and fictional characters * Vic (name), a list of people, fictional characters and mascots with the given name * V.I.C. (rapper) (born 1987), stage name of an American rapper Places * Vic, Spain, a town and ...

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

and

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in Camp de Tarragona, Catalonia, Spain. The area has long been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental significance during the time of the Phylloxera plague. Currently it is known f ...

. Outside of Catalonia, violence was reported at the

Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol (, English: "Gate of the Sun") is a public square in Madrid, one of the best known and busiest places in the city. This is the centre ('' Km 0'') of the radial network of Spanish roads. The square also contains the famous ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

and

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

. The

mayor of Madrid The Mayor of Madrid presides over the Madrid City Council, the government body of the capital city of Spain. The mayor has the duty of boosting the local policies, it directs the action of the other executive bodies, leads the Local Executive Adm ...

José Luis Martínez-Almeida José Luis Martínez-Almeida Navasqüés (born 17 April 1975) is a Spanish state lawyer and politician. A member of the People's Party (PP), he has been a member of the Madrid City Council since 2015 and has been Mayor of Madrid since 2019. ...

, reported damages of €200,000.

Reactions

Barcelona's mayor

Ada Colau Ada Colau Ballano ( ; born 3 March 1974) is a Spanish activist and politician who was Mayor of Barcelona between 2015 and 2023. On 13 June 2015 she was elected Mayor of Barcelona, the first woman to hold the office, as part of the citizen munici ...

, of

En Comú Podem En Comú Podem (, ECP) was an electoral coalition in Catalonia, originally formed in October 2015 by Podemos, Barcelona en Comú, Initiative for Catalonia Greens, United and Alternative Left, and Equo, and led by the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada ...

, condemned all violence and voiced support for the police. This position was questioned by

Dolors Sabater Maria Dolors Sabater Puig (born 28 November 1960) is a Catalan teacher, social activist and politician from Spain. She was mayor of Badalona from 2015 to 2018, and elected to the Parliament of Catalonia in 2021. Career Sabater is a teacher wi ...

, a

Popular Unity Candidacy The Popular Unity Candidacy (, CUP) is a left-wing to far-left pro-Catalan independence political party active primarily in Catalonia, where it has political representation, but also in other autonomous communities in Spain it considers to be part ...

member of the

Parliament of Catalonia The Parliament of Catalonia (, ; ; ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Catalonia. The Parliament is currently made up of 135 members, known as Deputy (legislator), deput ...

. Almeida in Madrid acted in favour of the police, while mayor

Joan Ribó Joan Ribó Canut (; born 17 September 1947) is a Spanish politician and engineer who was the mayor of Valencia from 2015 to 2023. Ribó is a member of Coalició Compromís. Career Ribó was born on 17 September 1947 in Manresa in the Province o ...

in Valencia criticised the police response as disproportionate. Spain's prime minister

Pedro Sánchez Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón (; born 29 February 1972) is a Spanish politician who has served as Prime Minister of Spain since 2018. He has also been Secretary-General of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) since July 2017, having p ...

said "in a full democracy like Spain, violence is inadmissible...violence is a denial of democracy". The second deputy prime minister, Pablo Iglesias of Podemos, supported the protests; the first deputy prime minister

Carmen Calvo María del Carmen Calvo Poyato (born 9 June 1957) is a Spanish politician and author who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Spain and Minister of the Presidency from 2018 to 2021. Born and raised in Cabra, Spain, she attended the University o ...

condemned his position. The official Podemos Twitter account said "Every time that people denounce a democratic irregularity in the streets, the media powers put the focus on the unrest so that we stop debating the root problem, and nothing changes. The fact that we don't fall into that trap doesn't put us on the side of violence, but rather of democratic progress". Podemos's parliamentary spokesperson,

Pablo Echenique Pablo Echenique Robba (born 28 August 1978 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina) is an Argentine-born Spanish physicist and politician. As a scientist, he holds a position at the Spanish National Research Council in Zaragoza (CSIC). He came to Spai ...

, publicly supported the protests and first condemned their violent elements on 22 February. In the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, a similar government rift was reported between the

Socialist Party of the Valencian Country The Socialist Party of the Valencian Country (; , PSPV–PSOE) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in the Valencian Community, and is a regional branch of the national Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE). The PSPV was orig ...

and its allies from Podemos and the

Coalició Compromís Coalició Compromís (, ), also known as Compromís,Ávila López, E. (2016) ''Modern Spain'', p. 85 is a Valencianist electoral coalition in the Valencian Community, Spain. The parties involved include Més-Compromís, the left-wing Valencia ...

References

{{reflist Protests in Catalonia Protests in Spain 2021 protests February 2021 in Spain