(CNN) Tens of thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Pamplona in Spain on Saturday after men accused of the gang rape of an 18-year-old woman at the 2016 running of the bulls festival were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse.

More than 30,000 people participated in the latest demonstration prompted by Thursday's court decision, according to a local police spokesman.

Many carried signs and shouted slogans denouncing the decision by a court in northern Spain's Navarre region to sentence the five men to nine years in prison for "a continued crime of sexual abuse," a lesser offense under Spanish law than the gang rape of which they were accused.

Women carry a sign, written in Basque, that says, ''Our Word," during Saturday's protest in Pamplona.

When the decision was announced, large protests erupted throughout the country, including in Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Pamplona and Alicante.

Some protesters carried placards declaring, "It is not abuse, it is rape." Others shouted, "Yo te creo" -- "I believe you" -- in reference to the victim of the assault.

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