After Barcelona speech, fugitive Catalan leader Puigdemont does disappearing act

(CN) — The Spanish political world was rocked Thursday after former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont returned to Barcelona to deliver an impassioned pro-Catalan independence speech to adoring supporters.

Then Puigdemont disappeared, possibly with the help of a Catalan police officer, triggering a wide-scale manhunt.

The conservative pro-independence politician has been on the run ever since he led a failed 2017 bid to split Catalonia from Spain. After an arrest warrant was issued and Spanish authorities began arresting other Catalan independence leaders, Puigdemont fled the country inside a car trunk.

His dramatic return after seven years of self-imposed exile in Belgium was a high-stakes act of political theater — and a brazen attempt to challenge developments in both Catalan and Spanish politics.

Speaking before thousands of supporters near the Catalan parliament in central Barcelona, Puigdemont denounced Spanish judges for seeking his arrest despite the recent passage of an amnesty law meant to close the book on prosecutions for those involved in Catalan independence.

“We have been persecuted for years, and we are subjected to repression that has affected thousands of people for being pro-independence,” Puigdemont said in his speech. “Being Catalan has become something suspicious.”

"A country where amnesty does not grant amnesty has a problem with democratic normality," he added. "I don’t know when I’ll see you again — but whatever happens, when we see each other again we can once again shout out, ‘Long live Free Catalonia!’”

After inconclusive elections a year ago, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, a socialist, was forced to back the passage of a divisive amnesty bill in order to retain the support of Basque and Catalan separatist parties.

Spain's high court then ruled that amnesty did not apply to Puigdemont and others charged with misuse of public funds in connection with the independence referendum. Puigdemont has dismissed these embezzlement charges as baseless.

After giving his speech, allies whisked Puigdemont away from the throngs of onlookers and towards the Catalan parliament building. Large numbers of Catalan police were on hand during these events, but they did not arrest him.

Catalan media reported that the regional police, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, had reached an agreement with the former president to arrest him after the speech when he arrived at the parliament building. Instead, Puigdemont disappeared, possibly even with police help. He apparently escaped in a vehicle owned by a Catalan officer, who was arrested. A second officer was arrested later Thursday.

After his disappearance, Catalan police set up roadblocks in Barcelona and on roadways leading to the French border, causing major traffic jams across the city.

As the Catalan independence movement appears to lose steam, some in Spain see Puigdemont's dramatic return and subsequent flight as a desperate bid to stay politically relevant.

In May, pro-independence parties suffered a major setback in Catalan regional elections. His visit seemed timed to overshadow the investiture of new Catalan President Salvador Illa, a socialist ally of Prime Minister Sanchez and the first Catalan leader since 2010 to not favor independence.

Whatever Puigdemont's thinking, the events on Thursday will likely have major impacts in Spain. For one thing, it could pose difficulties for Sánchez, whose fragile ruling coalition depends on seven members from Puigdemont's party, Together for Catalonia.

Already, Sánchez's opponents on the right have depicted Puigdemont's vanishing act as an affront to the country. They've blamed the Socialist leader for allowing it to take happen.

Alberto Núñez Feijóo, the leader of the center-right Popular Party, called it “an unbearable humiliation."

“It is painful to watch this madness,” Feijoo said on social media. “Damaging Spain's image like this is unforgivable.”

Santiago Abascal, the leader of the far-right Vox party, likewise accused Sánchez of being “responsible for the destruction of the rule of law and for allowing criminals to run free.”

On social media, he said it was awful to watch “the destruction of the state beamed live on Spanish television.” For his part, by Thursday evening Spanish time, Sánchez had not yet commented on the Barcelona incident.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau

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