On the fifth day of the protests at the University Square in Barcelona at the appointed 7 pm there were few people.

The contingent is so different that one word cannot be described.

There were also people of the age for whom the arrest of the rapper became another link in a whole chain of injustices.

There were adults - they went for freedom of speech.

There were those who were just for Catalonia.

Even young people are all motley.

A group of decently dressed students with glasses fogging up from a mask, as if they just left the library.

Nearby are punks in tattered trousers with a bottle of alcohol in hand.

Behind them are guys of not the most traditional orientation in tight multi-colored leggings, flip flops with socks and a white furry plush coat.

And then just dressed in all black from head to toe so that you can't even see your eyes, rebels.

This is why I love Barcelona: no matter what you are, it is important that together with everyone for a common idea. 

Rap was being read in the center of the square, and the whole audience clapped in unison.

A man came up to us: “Are you Russians?

Yah!

Guys, Russians are with us! "

Confused.

In principle, the Catalans treat us very well, but in this context, they are certainly interested in the international media talking about the protests.

But for some reason they react calmly to other foreigners, and we are always surprised and happy.

We started talking.

He says it's coming out for the fourth time, missed the first day.

I ask the question: "Why?"

After all, the guy who was imprisoned is in silks in criminal cases.

Nine months - for insulting the crown, two and a half years - for the threat of reprisals against a witness in the case of police violence, attacks on journalists, two years probation - for praising groups that are considered terrorist in Spain.

A rather large pile is typed for a musician who has not even finished high school. 

To which he replies that it is unfair.

It is unfair, because in Madrid people can go out on marches praising the Blue Division, and no one disperses them with clubs.

They can speak from the rostrum and speak the unthinkable.

Further - the quote that their “highest duty is to fight for Spain and for Europe, now weak and eliminated by the enemy.

An enemy that will always remain so, although hiding under different disguises - a Jew ... a Jew is guilty, and the Blue Division fought against him. "

These are the words of an 18-year-old girl who openly says that she is a fascist.

She gives interviews, defending this right, believes that it is necessary to act like the very Spanish volunteers who went to the Russian front during the Second World War to help Hitler kill Soviet soldiers in Krasny Bor, closed the blockade ring around Leningrad, and some then even in violation of the order remained to defend Berlin until 1943. 

“You,” my interlocutor tells me, “you, Russians, must understand very well the whole absurdity of the situation.

From the rostrum, she openly, without hiding, calls today to exterminate Jews in the same way as the Nazis did during the war.

Why is she still at large and the rapper is in jail?

In prison for calling Juan Carlos, the father of the current monarch Philip VI, the head of a mafia clan.

Moreover, he is really suspected of fraud with millions of euros, and his daughter, Infanta Christina, was sentenced to a fine for corruption ... " 

He is interrupted by a loud chant: "Freedom for Pablo Asel!"

I look around, and there is already a huge crowd around.

She filled the entire square, neighboring streets, more and more people are coming up, stretching out banners.

There are really a lot of demonstrators, then there will be about 6 thousand of them. There is no one political force behind them.

But there seem to be those who direct the crowd.

Suddenly everyone starts walking.

I try to understand: where, what - and I find a channel in Telegram, where they briefly but clearly inform: now everything is in Plaza Catalunya.

There, in the canal, they periodically throw instructions on how to behave if a water cannon starts working, how to set fire to a trash can, how to dress so that you cannot be identified in the crowd.

Many people read, but small groups of young antifa behave this way, while the overwhelming majority of people are peaceful.

The crowd flows through the streets towards the Spanish Police Headquarters, which is guarded by the Civil Guard, hated by supporters of Catalan independence.

(In 2017, Madrid sent additional guards to suppress the riots after the announcement of the verdict on Catalan politicians for holding a referendum on secession.) But this time the crowd does not have time to reach the building - a whole line of police vans is moving towards it, along with them in orderly rows law enforcement officers (local).

They immediately reverse the flow of people and begin to squeeze out of the street.

They act clearly, tough, quickly.

For which they immediately receive a volley of bottles and stones in response.

Here, the most aggressive and active ones come to the fore.

The youth explodes.

How much time she spent locked up in houses because of covid restrictions, and then the reason presented itself to throw out everything that had accumulated.

And these cat and mouse start with the police.

She either runs with batons, or arranges "merry-go-rounds" - this is when cars cut through the streets at high speed, forcing the rioters to scatter in different directions.

Scatter here - gather there.

And so on for several hours.

Harness, where they have time, containers.

But I would single out the marauders in a separate group.

Locals disown them, they say that they do not rob their own, but those who are from Morocco and Guinea are engaged in this.

They take everything, but prefer expensive branded items.

And then they stone monuments of architecture, for example, incredibly beautiful stained glass windows of the magnificent Palace of Catalan Music. 

To gallery page

But in general, over these days in Barcelona alone, the material damage from street riots was estimated at almost € 1 million. But protests are taking place in many other Spanish cities.

Because of the sentence to the rapper, everyone who could have quarreled.

The atmosphere in the government is electrified, the prime minister condemns the pogroms, but his deputy supports them.

The Spaniards also got confused about what should be considered freedom of speech.

Where is the line?

Some demand to soften the law on insulting the monarchy and pardon the rapper.

Others insist that the judge, in fact, should be that girl who called the Jews enemies, she should be put in prison.

So far, we have limited ourselves to checking her statements.

The European press reports calmly about Spanish affairs, in fact.

European institutions do not notice the unrest at all.

And the European Court of Human Rights does not demand the immediate release of the musician, although outside of Spain for the lyrics in Europe is usually not imprisoned.

The head of the Spanish Foreign Ministry in Brussels today at a meeting with his colleagues can be calm.

The question of sanctions, of course, will be raised, but they want to accept them not against Spain, but against Russia.

Although everything is clear here: you cannot insult veterans of the Great Patriotic War, glorify fascism too.

And it is not recommended to break the law.

In exceptional cases, they will forgive once, tolerate the second time, and then solder them, as expected, to the fullest extent of the law.

Even the European club will not be scared.

The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.