Catalan independence leader and former President Carles Puigdemont addresses supporters after arriving near the Catalan Parliament to attend the inauguration debate in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday.
Joan Mateu/AP
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Joan Mateu/AP
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for former Catalan leader and fugitive Carles Puigdemont, a prominent campaigner for Catalan independence who made a dramatic return to Spain and an equally dramatic escape from a speech in the city with the alleged help of local police officers.
The event comes nearly seven years after Puigdemont fled Spain following a failed independence bid, with an arrest warrant pending against him.
Puigdemont had previously said he intended to be in Spain on the day the Catalan parliament was sworn in as the new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after fleeing Spain in 2017, but his latest whereabouts are unknown.
Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting off for the wealthy Catalan region of northeastern Spain. He addressed a huge crowd of supporters in central Barcelona in front of police, who made no move to arrest him.
After his speech, in a moment of secrecy, Puigdemont went into a nearby tent. There, he rushed out the exit and jumped into a waiting car and sped away, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed his departure.
Catalan police have arrested two of their officers on suspicion of helping Puigdemont flee, suspecting the former Catalan leader used one of their private vehicles, the force’s press office told The Associated Press. No further details were available.
About three hours after Puigdemont disappeared, Catalan police — known as Mossos d’Esquadra — canceled a traffic check without giving a reason, but later said they resumed the check a few hours later.
Police initially did not move to arrest Puigdemont because they feared it could “cause public disorder,” a police statement said. Officers attempted to stop the fleeing vehicle but were unable to do so, although they added that more arrests were expected. The statement did not elaborate.
The Catalan police force operates separately from Spain’s Policía Nacional. At the time of the 2017 vote, the Spanish government suspended the Mossos police chief and investigated the force for failing to prevent the vote. The chief and his staff were eventually cleared.
Authorities have set up a police cordon at the nearby regional parliament building, where Mr Puigdemont is expected to arrive after his speech.
After Puigdemont escaped, roadside police units searched vehicles across the city of about 1.6 million people in an effort to capture him. The checks brought traffic to a standstill in the city. Police also checked vehicles traveling on the highway to neighboring France.
Puigdemont faces corruption charges for his role in the attempt to split Catalonia from the rest of Spain in 2017. As regional president and leader of the separatist party at the time, he was a key figure in the independence referendum that was banned by the central government but went ahead anyway.
Those events sparked a political crisis that rocked Spain for months.
Puigdemont’s appearance in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, and his cat-and-mouse game with police drew attention on the day the new government was sworn in at the regional parliament.
Local police were deployed in a security ring around part of the park where the Catalan parliament building is located behind walls. Meanwhile, Puigdemont, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, walked with supporters to a nearby stage where he gave a speech.
Speaking to a crowd in the park, at times raising his fist, Puigdemont accused the Spanish government of “repressing” the Catalan separatist movement.
“For seven years we have been persecuted because we wanted to listen to the voice of the Catalan people,” Puigdemont said. “They have turned being Catalan into something suspicious.”
Supporters of Catalan independence leader Carles Puigdemont hold a picture of him as they wait for him to arrive near the Catalan Parliament on Thursday.
Emilio Morenatti/AP
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Emilio Morenatti/AP
“Everyone has the right to self-determination,” he added.
The dramatic turn of events, which were broadcast live on Spanish television channels, is likely to attract political criticism.
The leader of the Popular Party, the main opposition to Spain’s left-wing coalition government, which has long opposed Catalonia’s independence movement, has condemned Puigdemont’s return. Alberto Núñez Feijóo posted on X that Puigdemont’s return was an “unbearable humiliation” that damaged Spain’s reputation.
The Spanish government has encouraged a deal brokered after months of deadlock between Salvador Illa’s Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and the other main Catalan separatist and leftist party Esquerra Republicana (ERC). That deal secured enough support in the Catalan parliament for Illa to become the next regional president in a vote later Thursday.
Addressing Catalan lawmakers ahead of the vote, Illa called for reconciliation and respect for Spain’s controversial amnesty bill. He vowed to govern for all Catalans after years of deep divisions between pro-independence and anti-independence supporters.
Puigdemont has dedicated his career to the goal of creating a new nation in northeastern Spain — a struggle that has spanned decades and often left him in contempt of authority. His uncompromising approach has caused political conflict with other separatist parties as well as Spain’s central government.
A controversial amnesty bill, drafted by Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government, would have potentially cleared Puigdemont and hundreds of other Catalan independence supporters of the 2017 vote. Spain’s central government and the Constitutional Court declared at the time that the referendum was illegal.
But the bill passed by the Spanish parliament earlier this year is being challenged by the Supreme Court, which argues that the amnesty does not apply to embezzlement, unlike other crimes Puigdemont has previously been charged with.
Puigdemont could be detained if arrested.
