Flower throwing image compared to Banksy at Spanish jailed rapper protest

A photograph of a protestor throwing a bouquet of flowers during protests in Spain against the jailing of a rapper for his radical lyrics has drawn comparisons to an iconic work by street artist Banksy.

In a case of life imitating art, social media users have noted striking visual similarities between the photograph taken in Barcelona on Monday night and Banksy’s image of a young man launching flowers, first seen on a wall near Jerusalem in 2005.

“Banksy made flesh, possibly the best visual metaphor of this show," said a Twitter user called Francis.

Monday saw the seventh straight night of protests in Barcelona against the jailing of rapper Pablo Hasel, who was removed from a protest sit-in at a university building in Lleida a week ago to start serving a nine-month sentence for glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in Twitter posts and one of his anti-establishment raps.

Hasel had refused to obey an order to enter prison, issued by Spain’s national court because he is a repeat offender with two convictions for the same offences.

During protests in Barcelona and other cities around Spain, scores of people have been injured and arrested in violent clashes between demonstrators and the police, and vandalism and looting have also taken place.

Three arrests were made in Barcelona on Monday and a dozen refuse containers were set alight.

Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti said the photograph showed a man throwing a bouquet towards a Barcelona police station.

The bouquet idea may well have been a direct Banksy influence, with the protestor’s dark attire and the fact that he was wearing a Covid face mask synching nicely with the original Rage, the Flower Thrower stencil’s dark figure with a mask in the style of a Palestinian youth during an Intifada clash with Israeli security forces.