Carles Puigdemont, Leader of Catalan Separatists, Escapes Arrest Upon Return to Spain

The former president of the Catalonia regional government and leader of the separatists spoke to thousands of his supporters near the parliamentary building in central Barcelona, but despite a warrant for his arrest and a heavy police presence, he disappeared. Carles Puigdemont told his supporters on Thursday, August 9, that his goal is to revive the independence movement in Catalonia, which plunged Spain into a serious political crisis in 2017. He added, 'They thought they could celebrate my arrest and that this punishment could discourage us, but they were wrong.' After his speech, Puigdemont went backstage, and journalists and police could not find him. At the end of his speech, attendees were asked over loudspeakers to march with him and other pro-independence politicians towards the state parliament building. However, according to a source in the Catalonia regional government, Puigdemont escaped the speech venue in a white car belonging to a state police officer. The Catalonia state police stated that during the investigation to find Carles Puigdemont, a police officer has been arrested. The controversial public pardon law in Spain; the end of separatism? The police search operation for him caused chaos in urban traffic in Barcelona and on roads leading to the Spain-France border. A spokesperson for the Catalonia state police later said without further explanation that the search operation for Mr. Puigdemont had been halted. A group of Puigdemont's supporters clashed with police in an attempt to approach the state parliament building, and officers used batons and pepper spray to disperse them. Carles Puigdemont, 61, who was the head of the local government during the October 2017 vote for Catalonia's independence from Spain, fled Spain after the vote, which led to violent clashes between police forces and pro-independence supporters. He has lived in voluntary exile outside Spain for the past seven years. He is accused of misusing public funds to hold the 2017 referendum, which Spanish judicial authorities declared illegal, leading to a warrant for his arrest. However, Puigdemont claims that the referendum was not illegal and considers the indictment against him 'baseless.' Carles Puigdemont held his rally to mobilize independence supporters on the same day that sessions of the Catalonia state parliament began to review the qualifications of the new candidate for the presidency of the state government. The wind of separatism in Catalonia did not sleep with the elections. Salvador Illa, from the Spanish Socialist Party, with the support of several local parties, including the left Republican Party of Catalonia, succeeded in winning the state elections a few months ago. If he gains the necessary support in the state parliament, he can begin his work as the head of the Catalonia state government. A spokesperson for the Spanish Supreme Court told reporters that the country's judicial authorities have instructed the Catalonia state police to arrest Carles Puigdemont based on an indictment approved by the case judge. The union of national police officers in Spain severely criticized the Catalonia state police's inability to arrest Carles Puigdemont in a message on X, formerly Twitter. Two sources associated with the Catalonia state government have also acknowledged that the reason for the state police's failure to arrest the Catalonia separatist leader is likely due to self-interested factors within the police force, which seem to be loyal to Carles Puigdemont and the Catalonia separatist movement. Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of the right-wing People's Party, the main opposition party to the government of Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, holds Sánchez responsible for this situation, describing it as 'an intolerable embarrassment.' The Spanish government and Carles Puigdemont's lawyers have not yet commented on his escape from arrest and the political and judicial consequences of this event.