BARCELONA, Spain (AP) – Demonstrations in support of a jailer turned violent on Sunday for the sixth consecutive night in clashes between police and groups of mostly angry youths in the center of the Spanish city.
As in previous days, Sunday began with a peaceful demonstration in Barcelona, where graffiti artists painted a mural of Spanish King Felipe VI and his father, former King Juan Carlos I, to show their solidarity with the rapper Pablo Hasél mentions.
But as the night fell, tensions increased as protesters mostly dressed in dark clothes marched through the city center to the national police headquarters.
After half an hour of being pelted with rocks, bottles, trash cans and firefighters, Catalan police backed by pickups to clear the street from the station. Shops in downtown Barcelona were again targeted by vandals who broke windows.
More than a hundred people, including seven on Sunday, have been arrested for violent clashes with police since Hasel was arrested Tuesday, serving a ninth month jail sentence for his tweets and lyrics insulting the Spanish monarch and praising terrorist violence.
Catalan police said more than 35 people had been arrested in Barcelona and other nearby towns on Saturday after rioters smashed shop windows and fought with police. Other protests across Spain, including the capital Madrid, have mostly remained peaceful.