The fugitive former leader of Catalonia’s independence movement has teased Spanish police by coming to Barcelona and making a speech to supporters before disappearing, triggering a manhunt.
Carles Puigdemont, 61, who had been in self-imposed exile since leaving the country in 2017, had previously said he would be in Spain on the day Catalonia’s parliament was due to swear in a new president.
He arrived in Barcelona on Thursday morning, despite an outstanding arrest warrant, and headed on foot to Ciutadella Park, where he told a crowd of several thousand separatist supporters “all people have the right to self-determination”.
He accused Spanish authorities of “a crackdown” on the Catalan separatist movement and said: “For the last seven years we have been persecuted because we wanted to hear the voice of the Catalan people. They have made being Catalan into something suspicious.”
Watching police made no attempt to arrest him, perhaps planning to wait until his expected arrival at the nearby regional parliament, presumably to avoid confrontation with the crowd, some of whom clashed with officers.
But, instead of heading for the building, Mr Puigdemont went into an adjacent marquee after his speech, then dashed out and jumped into a waiting car that sped away, an Associated Press photographer who witnessed his departure, said.
Police, who had set up a cordon at the nearby regional parliament where Mr Puigdemont had been expected to go afterwards, soon realised he had slipped away.
Officers started stopping traffic and checking vehicles across the city to search for him, including some of those using highways to head to neighbouring France.
Mr Puigdemont faces charges of alleged embezzlement for his part in an attempt to break Catalonia away from the rest of Spain in 2017.
Supporters of Spanish far-right Vox party protest against Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont near the Catalonia Regional Parliament. Pic: Reuters
Supporters of Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont clash with police in Barcelona. Pic: Reuters
As regional president and leader of the Junts separatist party at the time, he was a key player in an independence referendum that was outlawed by the central government but went ahead anyway.
Those events triggered a political crisis that unsettled Spain for months.
Carles Puigdemont’s empty chair at the Catalonia Regional Parliament. Pic: Reuters
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Mr Puigdemont’s appearance in Barcelona, Catalonia’s capital, and his game of cat-and-mouse with police stole the show on a day when a new government was being sworn in at the regional parliament.
Salvador Illa, leader of the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC), was sworn in as president thanks to a government-brokered deal with the other main Catalan separatist party and left-wing Esquerra Republicana (ERC).
Speaking before the vote, Mr Illa called for reconciliation and vowed to govern for all Catalans after years of bitter divisions between those in favour of independence and those against it.