Protests in Spain as five cleared of gang rape at San Fermin festival

Jose Francisco Cobo, magistrate from the High Court of Navarra, is seen on screen as he delivers a nine-year prison sentence on five men accused of the multiple rape of a woman during Pamplona's San Fermin festival in 2016, in front of a monitor screen showing a picture of the accused, in Pamplona, Spain, April 26, 2018. REUTERS/Vincent West

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish court on Thursday cleared five men of the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman at the 2016 San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona, convicting them of the lesser crime of sexual abuse.

The decision drew immediate criticism and outrage. Protesters gathered outside the court building chanted: "It's not abuse, it's rape", and shook their fists at the building.