Assed thousands of protesters demanded the release of Spanish rapper Pablo Hassle.

Earlier in the day, dozens of police stormed died a university in northeastern Spain toe arrest hustle.

He had been hiding since last Friday, when he was supposed to start a nine month jail term.

Hustle is considered a radical leftist and was convicted in 2018 of glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in lyrics and tweets, he's referenced the Basque separatist group E.

T A, compared the country's judges to Nazis and called former king Juan Carlos a Mafia boss.

His 2018 sentencing caused uproar in Spain, which led the government to announce it would roll back free speech laws.

Just last week, Spain's leftist government said they would amend a 2015 gag law which prevents glorifying armed groups and insulting the monarchy or religion.

After Tuesday's arrest, Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo sided with demonstrators when she told reporters that free should not happen in a democracy like Spain.

More than 200 artists across the film and music industry signed a petition opposing hassle sentencing, including actor Javier Bardem and director Pedro Almodovar.