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Spanish police arrest rapper holed up in university
BARCELONA, Feb 16, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Spanish police on Tuesday arrested a rapper who barricaded
himself inside a university after he was controversially sentenced to nine
months in jail over a string of tweets, a case that has sparked debate over
free speech in the country.
“They will never make us give in, despite the repression,” Pablo Hasel
said, his fist raised as he was escorted down a staircase by police in
protective gear.
“It is the fascist state which is arresting me. Death to the fascist
state!” added the 32-year-old, who wore a sweatshirt and was carrying a
duffel bag, as he looked directly at TV cameras.
Hasel had been given until last Friday night to turn himself in to begin
serving his sentence after being convicted for glorifying terrorism, slander
and libel against the crown and state institutions.
At issue was a series of tweets attacking the monarchy and accusing police
of torturing and killing demonstrators and migrants, with his case sparking
protests in Madrid and Barcelona.
But Hasel, who is known for his hard-left views and whose real name is
Pablo Rivadulla, on Monday barricaded himself inside the University of
Lleida, in the northeastern Catalonia region, with dozens of supporters to
avoid arrest.
A Catalan police spokesman told AFP that officers entered the university
early Tuesday “to enforce the judicial ruling” on his arrest.
Police in protective gear removed chairs, garbage bins and other objects
that had been set up as barricades to reach the spot where the singer was
barricaded with his supporters.
“There were several barricades at the university. but the people inside did
not offer much resistance,” the head of the Catalan regional police force in
the region, Jordi Dalmau, told reporters.
– Artist backlash –
Hundreds of artists have signed a petition against Hasel’s jailing,
including film director Pedro Almodovar, Hollywood actor Javier Bardem and
folk singer Joan Manuel Serrat.
The petition likened Spain to countries such as Turkey or Morocco, where
artists have been jailed.
Last week, Spain’s government pledged to reduce the penalty for “crimes of
expression” such as the glorification of terrorism, hate speech, insults to
the crown and offences against religious sensibilities in the context of
artistic, cultural or intellectual activities.
Government spokeswoman Maria Jesus Montero acknowledged that Hasel’s prison
sentence “lacked proportionality”.
But in an interview with AFP last week, Hasel said he had no intention of
turning himself in, accusing the government of making empty pledges.
“I refuse to go of my own accord and knock on the prison door,” he said.
“So they’ll just have to come and kidnap me, which will show up the state
for what it really is: a phoney democracy.”
– ‘Should be ashamed’ –
Far-left party Podemos, the junior partners in Socialist Prime Minister
Pedro Sanchez’s minority coalition government, criticised Hasel’s arrest.
“All those who consider themselves progressives and boast of (Spain’s)
‘full democratic normality’ should be ashamed,” the party said in a tweet.
“Are their eyes covered? There is no progress if we refuse to recognise
our existing democratic shortcomings.”
The tweet was a reference to recent controversial comments by Podemos
leader Pablo Iglesias, who said last week that there was no “full political
and democratic normality in Spain”.
The statement was criticised by all parties on the right, and caused
discomfort within Sanchez’s Socialist party with top ministers rushing to
defend Spain’s democratic credentials.
Hasel’s case echoes that of another rapper called Valtonyc who fled to
Belgium in 2018 after being convicted of similar crimes.
Spain is trying to have him extradited but Belgium has refused on the
grounds that his offences are not a crime under Belgian law.
BSS/AFP/RY/1730hrs