<p>BARCELONA, Spain — A judge in Spain on Wednesday denied bail to eight people following their arrest for violent clashes with police during protests against the imprisonment of a rap artist.</p>
<p>The suspects — five Italian men, one Italian woman, one French woman and one Spanish woman — were allegedly part of a group that set fire to a police van in Barcelona on Saturday. They face potential charges that include attempted homicide, assaulting law enforcement officers, and forming part of a criminal group.</p>
<p>Catalan interior chief Miquel Sàmper said the suspects held in custody belong to an international “anarchist movement.”</p>
<p>Another five people were also arrested during the clashes but were released by the judge.</p>
<p>The group is accused of using an inflammable liquid to set fire to a police van while an officer was inside it. The officer escaped through the passenger door and reportedly used an extinguisher to put out the flames.</p>
<p>Catalan police said they had already detected the group that was allegedly active in damaging property and clashing with police during <a href="https://apnews.com/article/spain-protests-pablo-hasel-dada0c3bc487f5e05e2fcb1ae09c162c#:~:text=BARCELONA%2C%20Spain%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94,in%20the%20southern%20European%20country.">several days of protests </a> following the arrest and imprisonment of rapper Pablo Hasél.</p>
<p>Hasél is serving nine months for inciting terrorism — he has praised two now-defunct armed groups responsible for killing over 1,000 people in Spain — and for refusing to pay a fine for insulting Spain’s former king.</p>
