Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont has managed to evade authorities.
Carles Puigdemont has returned after seven years in self-imposed exile to disrupt the vote for the new president of Spain’s Catalonia region, despite increased security measures in Barcelona to apprehend him.
Puigdemont was president of Catalonia in 2017 when he unilaterally declared independence. The Spanish government responded by removing him from office and issuing an arrest warrant, prompting his escape to Belgium.
The Catalan parliament convened on Thursday to approve the election of Socialist Party candidate Salvador Illa, following months of negotiations with the separatist ERC party. The vote was overshadowed by Puigdemont, who appeared outside the parliament before the session began and delivered a five-minute televised speech.
“I have to be there and I want to be there. That is why I have embarked on the return journey from exile,” Puigdemont said Wednesday on X (formerly Twitter).
His unexpected appearance outside the parliament caught both police and media off guard, as they had assumed he would attempt to enter the building. Police had blocked all but one entrance to the Parc de la Ciutadella, where the parliament is located, and checked everyone’s credentials before granting entry.
Puigdemont not only managed to deliver a speech outside but also disappeared afterward, evading arrest. According to the local daily La Vanguardia, two members of the Catalan police have been detained on suspicion of aiding the separatist leader’s escape.
Earlier in the day, the autonomous region’s police – known as Mossos d’Esquadra – conducted a thorough search of the entire parliament building, room by room. According to Politico EU, they also inspected the basement, searched the sewers, and sealed the passage connecting the parliament building to the Barcelona Zoo.
Puigdemont declined to run in June’s European Parliament elections in an attempt to reclaim the Catalan presidency, but lost the vote to Illa. The Socialist party struck a deal with the separatists last week to form a minority government.
Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez has effectively neutralized the Catalan separatists, at least for now, by enacting a comprehensive amnesty law last year. The opposition responded by organizing protests in Madrid.