The Catalan police, the Mossos d’Esquadra, are under the spotlight after failing to detain former Catalan president and fugitive Carles Puigdemont, who made a pre-announced return to Spain on Thursday, gave a speech in public in Barcelona, and then disappeared again with the alleged help of a local police officer. His speech was also broadcast live on Spain’s state TV1 channel.
The Mossos later launched a manhunt, with roadblocks at all major exits from the city, as well as approaches to the French border. In a statement, the Mossos also confirmed the arrest of one of their agents, suspected of aiding Puigdemont’s getaway. Spanish media has since reported that a second Mossos agent has also been detained. ALSO READ: Puigdemont announces ‘return journey from exile’ for Catalan investiture debate.
The events on Thursday took place nearly seven years after Puigdemont fled Spain after a failed independence bid, with an outstanding arrest warrant pending against him.
Puigdemont had previously announced his intention to be in Spain on the day that the Catalan Parliament was due to swear in a new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after fleeing Spain in 2017, but his latest place of residence wasn’t known.
Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting out to Barcelona, stating on Wednesday in a video posted on social media that he was commencing his ‘return journey from exile’.
Shortly after 9am on Thursday, he gave a speech on a stage at the Arc de Triomf in Barcelona, close to the law courts and Catalan Parliament, in front of a crowd of around 5,000 supporters and under the eyes of police officers, who made no attempt to detain him.
Images and videos later posted on social media showed how Puigdemont managed to get to the stage, walking from the narrow Passatge de Sant Benet to the Arc de Triomf – accompanied by three others, including Jordi Turull, of his pro-independence Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) party.
When he had finished speaking, Puigdemont went to a backstage area, after which police and media were unable to locate him. An adjacent marquee tent shielded him as he reportedly entered a waiting, white Honda car that sped away. Spanish media has reported that the vehicle was the property of the Mossos agent detained.
A loudspeaker announcement had called on the large crowd to accompany Puigdemont in a march towards the Catalan Parliament. But while senior officials of Puigdemont’s JxCat party made their way to the building, he was not among the group when they arrived at the parliament.
In their statement issued mid-afternoon, the Mossos said that their force ‘carried out a special device to guarantee the celebration of the Investiture Plenum in the Parliament of Catalonia … the main objective of the Mossos d’Esquadra’.
In relation to Puigdemont’s appearance and his expected attempt to enter the Catalan Parliament, the Mossos said:
‘Carles Puigdemont made an appearance in the Arc de Triomf area and, through the people gathered there, he accessed the stage where he made a speech. Then, protected by various authorities in the country and surrounded by the crowds, he started the march towards the main access gate to the Parc de la Ciutadella’, where the Catalan Parliament is located.
‘During this march and taking advantage of the number of people surrounding him, he fled the scene in a vehicle that the police tried to stop but failed to do so,’ the statement said.
‘It should be noted that the device that had been designed established that the arrest [of Puigdemont] should be made proportionately and at the most appropriate time so as not to generate public disorder,’ the Mossos said.
They concluded their statement denying ‘that there was any prior agreement or conversation with Carles Puigdemont’s entourage’.
‘Since the escape, the police have activated the [manhunt] device in different parts of Catalonia. In relation to this escape, the agents have arrested a police officer who is the owner of the vehicle used.’
Once Puigdemont vanished, roadside police units checked vehicles across the city of around 1.6 million people in an effort to detain him, bringing traffic to a halt. Police also checked vehicles heading on highways towards France.
Puigdemont faces charges of embezzlement for his part in an attempt to break Catalonia away from the rest of Spain in 2017. As regional president and pro-independence party leader at the time, he was a key player in an referendum that was outlawed by the central government but went ahead anyway.
In his speech in Barcelona on Thursday, Puigdemont shouted ‘Long live a free Catalonia!’ as he climbed onto the stage to address hundreds gathered near the Catalan Parliament – set to elect a new leader later in the day.
‘I have come here to remind you that we are still here,’ he said, as many in the crowd waved red, yellow and blue Catalan independence flags.
ALSO READ: Countdown begins in Catalonia for possible new elections in mid-October.
Click here for all our reports related to Catalan independence.
Comunicat oficial: https://t.co/aWX1S0sfvB https://t.co/ZDMx55mD4d
— Mossos (@mossos) August 8, 2024
🎥 President @KRLS Puigdemont: “No sé quan ens tornarem a veure. Però quan ens tornem a veure que podem cridar tots junts el crit amb què jo ara acabaré: Visca Catalunya lliure.” pic.twitter.com/kaC3k9atT5
— Junts per Catalunya🎗 (@JuntsXCat) August 8, 2024
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