Ex-Catalan leader Puigdemont, a fugitive since 2017, returns to Spain. But then he vanishes again

Catalan police man a checkpoint on a road in the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain, Aug. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

BARCELONA, Spain -

Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for fugitive Carles Puigdemont, a celebrated campaigner for Catalan independence who made a sensational return to Spain and an equally sensational getaway from a speech in the city with the alleged help of local police officers.

The events took place nearly seven years after the ex-Catalonia leader fled Spain after a failed independence bid, with an outstanding arrest warrant pending against him.

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Puigdemont had previously announced his intention to be in Spain on the day that Catalonia's parliament proclaimed a new president. The 61-year-old initially lived in Belgium after bolting from Spain in 2017, but his latest place of residence wasn't known.

Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting out to the wealthy Catalan region in northeastern Spain. He gave a speech in front of a large crowd of supporters in central Barcelona under the noses of police officers, who made no attempt to detain him.

After his speech, in a cloak-and-dagger moment, Puigdemont went into an adjacent marquee tent. There, he hurried out of an exit and jumped into a waiting car that sped away, according to an Associated Press photographer who witnessed his departure.

Catalan police arrested two of their own officers for their alleged involvement in Puigdemont's getaway, suspecting that the former leader used the private car of one of them, the force's press office told The Associated Press. No further details were available.

After Puigdemont vanished, Catalan police -- called Mossos d'Esquadra -- checked vehicles across the city of around 1.6 million people and others heading on highways to neighboring France in an effort to nab him. The checks were called off hours later.

Puigdemont shared later a video of his speech on Instagram with the message: "We're still here. Long live free Catalonia."

Officers initially held back from swooping to arrest Puigdemont out of concern the move might "cause public disorder," a police statement said. Officers tried to stop the fleeing vehicle, but were unable to do so, it said, though it added that further arrests were expected. The statement didn't elaborate.

The Catalan police force operates separately from Spain's Policia Nacional. At the time of the 2017 ballot, the Spanish government suspended the Mossos' chief and placed the force under investigation for failing to stop the vote. The chief and his staff were eventually exonerated.

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 separatist party leader at the time, he was a key player in the independence referendum that was outlawed by the central government but went ahead anyway.

Those events triggered a political crisis that roiled Spain for months.

Puigdemont's appearance in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital, and his game of cat-and-mouse with police, stole the show on a day when a new president was being proclaimed at the regional parliament.

Local police were deployed in a security ring around a section of the park where Catalonia's parliament building is located behind walls, and where Puigdemont was expected to go after his speech. Meanwhile, the politician, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and tie, walked with supporters to the nearby stage where he gave his speech.

Addressing the crowd in the park and at times pumping his fist, Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of "a crackdown" on the Catalan separatist movement.

"For the last seven years we have been persecuted because we wanted to hear the voice of the Catalan people," Puigdemont said. "They have made being Catalan into something suspicious."

He added: "All people have the right to self-determination."

The gripping turn of events, broadcast live on Spanish television channels, was likely to bring political recriminations.

The leader of the Popular Party, the main opposition to Spain's left-of-centre coalition government which has long rebuffed Catalonia's independence movement, condemned Puigdemont's return. Alberto Nunez Feijoo posted on X that Puigdemont's reappearance was an "unbearable humiliation" that damaged Spain's reputation.

Spain's government encouraged a deal brokered after months of deadlock between Salvador Illa's Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) and the other main Catalan separatist party and left-wing Esquerra Republicana (ERC). That deal ensured just enough support in Catalonia's parliament for Illa to become the next regional president Thursday with 68 votes in the 135-seat chamber.

Illa's new government is the first non pro-independence government in 14 years, since the PSC last held power.

Speaking to Catalan lawmakers before the vote, Illa called for reconciliation and respect for a controversial amnesty bill that could eventually clear Puigdemont of wrongdoing but which is being challenged in court. He vowed to govern for all Catalans after years of bitter divisions between those in favor of independence and those against it.

Puigdemont has dedicated his career to carving out a new country in northeast Spain, and has often thumbed his nose at authorities. His largely uncompromising approach has brought political conflict with other separatist parties as well as with Spain's central government.

The contentious amnesty bill, crafted by Spain's Socialist-led coalition government, could potentially clear hundreds of supporters of Catalan independence of any wrongdoing in the 2017 ballot. Spain's central government and the Constitutional Court declared at the time that the referendum was illegal.

But the bill, approved by Spain's parliament earlier this year, is being challenged by Supreme Court judges who say its provisions should not protect Puigdemont from prosecution over embezzlement charges that have been lodged against him.

Puigdemont could be placed in pretrial detention if he is arrested.

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Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal. Associated Press photographer Emilio Morenatti in Barcelona and writer Teresa Medrano in Madrid contributed to this report.