Police in Barcelona are searching for Carles Puigdemont, the separatist former leader of Catalonia, who made a dramatic return to Spain after a seven-year exile despite an outstanding arrest warrant.
The Mossos d’Esquadra, Catalonia’s regional police force, established roadblocks within and leading out of Barcelona as part of Operation Jaula, or “cage,” to locate Mr. Puigdemont, who was spotted leaving a rally this morning in a car. The operation was reportedly concluded a few hours later.
Mr. Puigdemont had been living in Brussels for several years following charges related to a failed Catalan independence bid in 2017.
At that time, Catalonia’s pro-independence leaders, including Puigdemont, held a referendum deemed illegal by Spain’s constitutional court and subsequently declared independence.
Madrid then imposed direct rule on the region, prompting Puigdemont to flee to Belgium.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Puigdemont briefly addressed hundreds of supporters near the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, shortly before the anticipated investiture of a new head of the Catalan government.
He said he had returned “to remind you that we are still here” and added: “Holding a referendum is not and will never be a crime.”
Mr Puigdemont then disappeared.
Many anticipated that Carles Puigdemont would appear in the parliament building for the investiture ceremony at 10:00 (08:00 GMT), but he was not present.
A Catalan police officer has been detained on suspicion of aiding Mr. Puigdemont’s escape, according to a spokesperson for the Mossos d’Esquadra. The officer is alleged to own the car used by Puigdemont to flee after his speech, as reported by Spanish media.
Roadblocks have now been established across Barcelona, according to a statement from Catalonia’s interior department. Spanish TV also showed images from La Jonquera, a town on the French border, where police were seen stopping vehicles and checking their trunks.
Puigdemont ally Aleix Sarri criticized the police operation on X, stating: “Hundreds of policemen encircle Barcelona to arrest President Puigdemont. This is a hunt funded by public money to satisfy Madrid’s demands. This is not what democracy should look like.”
Reports indicate that police used pepper spray to disperse Puigdemont supporters who gathered near the parliament.
Ignacio Garriga of the far-right Vox party, which opposes Catalan independence, declared that Vox would “do everything necessary to ensure Puigdemont’s arrest.”
Some Spanish commentators are surprised that Puigdemont was not apprehended, despite his announcement earlier this week of his return to Catalonia.
On Wednesday, Puigdemont posted a video on X stating that he had “started the return trip from exile” and argued that his arrest would be illegal and arbitrary.
Several motives appear to drive Puigdemont’s return to Spain. He aims to pressure authorities into applying the country’s new amnesty law, which withdraws legal action against Catalan nationalists, to him.
The Supreme Court had previously excluded him from the law’s application on technical grounds.
Additionally, Puigdemont seeks to disrupt the investiture of Socialist Salvador Illa as the new Catalan president. Illa would become the region’s first non-nationalist leader since 2010.