LLEIDA, Spain — A 24-hour standoff between police and a rapper barricaded with dozens of his supporters in a college ended Tuesday with anti-riot officers arresting the artist.
Pablo Hasél was escorted by riot police out of Lleida College’s rectorate constructing, within the northeastern Catalonia area, the place he and over 50 supporters had locked themselves in since mid-Monday.
It was the rapper’s newest effort to withstand imprisonment and draw consideration to what he portrays as a marketing campaign at no cost speech. The rapper has been sentenced to 9 months in jail for insulting the monarchy and praising terrorism.
“We’ll win, they won’t bend us with all their repression, by no means!” the 32-year-old rapper mentioned as he handed TV information cameras.
The case of Hasél, whose actual identify is Pablo Rivadulla Duró, has drawn rising consideration in Spain and has been linked to the federal government’s sudden announcement that it’s altering a nationwide legislation that’s deemed to curtail freedom of expression.
Over 200 artists, together with movie director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Javier Bardem, signed a petition final week in assist of the rapper.
Spain’s left-wing coalition authorities unexpectedly introduced final week that it could make modifications to the nation’s prison code to eradicate jail phrases for offences involving freedom of expression. It didn’t particularly point out Hasél or set a timetable for the modifications.
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