BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police launched a search Thursday in Barcelona for a former Catalan regional government leader who remains at large. Carles PuigdemontThe well-known Catalan independence activist made a sensational return to Spain, with the help of local police, and an equally sensational escape from a speech in the city.
The incident comes nearly seven years after Puigdemont fled Spain after his failed independence campaign and with an outstanding arrest warrant.
Petit Demon Previously Published He said he intends to be in Spain on the day the Catalan parliament is due to swear in the new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after fleeing Spain in 2017, but his latest place of residence is unknown.
Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting off on his journey to riches Catalonia In northeastern Spain, he spoke to a large crowd of supporters in central Barcelona, but police made no attempt to detain him.
After his speech, Puigdemont sneaked quietly into a large tent next door, then hurried out the exit and jumped into a waiting car, which sped away, according to an Associated Press photographer who saw him leave.
Catalan police have arrested two officers on suspicion of helping former president Puigdemont escape, the police press office told The Associated Press, after he is believed to have used one of the officers’ private car. Further details were not available.
Around three hours after Puigdemont disappeared, Catalan police (Mossos d’Esquadra) stopped the traffic checks without giving a reason, but said they resumed a few hours later.
Officers initially refrained from making a surprise arrest out of concern that Puigdemont’s arrest would “cause public disorder,” a police statement said. Officers tried to stop the getaway vehicle but were unsuccessful, it said, but added that further arrests were expected. The statement did not provide further details.
Catalan police operate separately from the Spanish national police. During the 2017 vote, the Spanish government suspended the head of Mossos and investigated the police for failing to prevent the vote. He and his subordinates were ultimately acquitted.
Authorities set up a police cordon around a nearby regional assembly hall where Puigdemont was expected to attend after his speech.
As Puigdemont fled, police roadside units checked vehicles throughout the city of 1.6 million people in an attempt to arrest him, disrupting traffic throughout the city. Police also checked vehicles on motorways heading towards neighbouring France.
Puigdemont is facing charges of embezzlement. Separate Catalonia The region achieved independence from the rest of Spain in 2017. As regional president and leader of a separatist party at the time, he played a central role in the independence referendum, which went ahead despite being declared illegal by the central government.
These events triggered a political crisis that rocked Spain for months.
Puigdemont’s appearance in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and his subsequent chase with police drew much attention as it also coincided with the swearing-in of the new government in the regional parliament.
Local police surrounded a corner of the park, behind a wall that houses the Catalan parliament, while Puigdemont, dressed in a black suit, white shirt and tie, walked with his supporters to a nearby stage, where he gave a speech.
Addressing the crowd in the park, occasionally pumping his fist, Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of “repressing” the Catalan independence movement.
“For the last seven years we have been persecuted because we wanted to make the Catalan voice heard,” Puigdemont said. “They made our Catalan identity questionable.”
“All peoples have the right to self-determination,” he added.
The shocking incident, broadcast live on Spanish television, was likely to invite political backlash.
The leader of the People’s Party, the main opposition party in Spain’s center-left coalition government, which has long rejected the Catalan independence movement, condemned Puigdemont’s return. Alberto Nunez Feijoc wrote on X that Puigdemont’s return was an “unbearable humiliation” and a tarnishment to Spain’s reputation.
The Spanish government encouraged the agreement, brokered after months of deadlock between Salvador Illa’s Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and Catalonia’s other main separatist party, the left-wing Republican Party (ERC), which secured Illa enough support in the Catalan parliament to become the region’s next president in a vote later on Thursday.
Before the vote, Illa called on Catalan lawmakers to respect reconciliation and Spain’s controversial amnesty bill, and vowed to govern for all Catalans after years of bitter divisions between pro- and anti-independence factions.
Puigdemont has dedicated his career to the goal of carving out a new state in northeastern Spain, a struggle that has spanned decades and often drawn contempt for the authorities, and his uncompromising stance has put him at political odds with other separatist parties and the Spanish central government.
A controversial amnesty bill drafted by Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government could absolve Puigdemont and hundreds of other supporters of Catalan independence of any wrongdoing in the 2017 referendum that Spain’s central government and constitutional court declared illegal at the time.
However, this bill Approved by the Spanish Parliament Earlier this year, Being challenged By supreme courtThey argue that the amnesty does not apply to embezzlement Unlike other crimes Puigdemont had previously been charged with the offence.
If arrested, Petitdemont could face pretrial detention.
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Hutton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti in Barcelona and reporter Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed to this report.
