As debates over freedom of speech and accusations of ‘canceling culture’ continue to simmer around the world, the issue has emerged as a fierce rally in the streets of Spain over the past week.
A provocative Spanish rapper has become an unlikely figurehead for widespread protests and sparked a debate over freedom of expression in European country.
Pablo Hasél’s tweets and lyrics haunted him as the anti-establishment musician was arrested last Tuesday on charges of insulting Spain’s monarchy and glorifying terrorism, sparking protests every night in major cities across the country, some of which became violent has.
Hasél – whose full name is Pablo Rivadulla Duró – missed a deadline earlier this month to hand himself over to police to serve a nine-month prison sentence handed down in 2018 when he was convicted of lyrics and tweets comparing Spanish judges to Nazis King Juan Carlos a mafia boss. He also referred to the Basque separatist paramilitary group known as ETA, which sought independence from Spain.
Instead, Hasél barricaded himself in a university in the Catalan city of Lleida before finally being arrested and sent to prison.
“Tomorrow it could be you,” did he tweet before he was captured and after tweeting again the lyrics for which he was convicted.
“We cannot allow them to prescribe to us what to say, what to feel and what to do,” he added.
His supporters and those who rejected the supposed limits of freedom of speech included the streets of cities, including the capital Madrid; Valencia; and Catalonia’s regional capital, Barcelona, where thousands of “Freedom for Pablo Hasél” and “No More Police Violence” roared.
As tensions flared up on Saturday, police clashed with members of fringe groups setting up street barriers and breaking windows in central Barcelona.
Pepe Ivorra García (18), a student in the city who joined the protests on Thursday night, said he supported Hasél peacefully and what he called an ‘attack’ on democratic freedoms that ‘form part of the backbone ‘of the Spanish Constitution.
“I’m not Catalan or independent, but I’m a Democrat,” García told NBC News. “I humbly consider it an embarrassment and a democratic deviation that there are prisoners in a European country in the 21st century for their ideas.”
Hasél has become an unlikely champion of free speech after his case drew attention to Spain’s public safety law in 2015. The law was enacted by a previous, conservative government and prevents insults to religion, the monarchy and the glorification of forbidden armed groups such as ETA.
More than 200 artists, including director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Javier Bardem, signed an open letter last week in solidarity with Hasél.
The human rights organization Amnesty International Spain also condemned the rapper’s imprisonment as an “excessive restriction on his freedom of expression.”
The so-called “gag law” of 2015 was a “step backwards” for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly in Spain, said Koldo Casla, a law professor at the English University of Essex and former chief of staff of the Basque Country’s human rights commissioner.
“Public authorities have given excessive scope to impose administrative fines, with icy consequences for peaceful protests,” he told NBC News.
Casla said although Hasél’s songs could be considered “cruel or deplorable”, it was not sufficient reason to enforce the criminal law. He added that the upset created by his case should be an opportunity for lawmakers to amend the criminal law to make sure it is compatible with the highest standards of freedom of expression.
The debate has prompted the Spanish ruling left-wing coalition government to announce that it would like to reform the 2015 law by imposing lighter penalties and giving the artistic and cultural forms of expression greater tolerance.
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The Spanish protests, however, should worry neighboring countries, Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament, told NBC News. He said Hasél’s case was an attack on a ‘legal disagreement’ and that it should be a major concern for the European Union.
“Spain goes far too far, interprets and uses its anti-terrorism laws, and I’m afraid it could spill over,” Breyer said. “I think satire, jokes and the arts are a very important part of society … and that it is counterproductive to curb this kind of speech, and the same goes for criticizing the police and the crown – it’s extremely important in ‘ a democracy. “
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has condemned the protests.
“Democracy protects freedom of speech, including the expression of the most horrible, absurd thoughts, but democracy never protects violence,” he said Friday.
Not all Spaniards support Hasél’s case.
Rafa Morata, 49, a primary school teacher, dismissed the rapper as a ‘left-wing extremist’ and told NBC News that his arrest was not about his lyrics or tweets, but because he ‘glorified terrorism’.
“His entry into prison has led to a debate over freedom of expression that his supporters have used to provoke riots in the streets,” Morata said, adding that Hazel’s law unknowingly “turned into a victim and a hero. ‘made.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Matthew Mulligan contributed.