Spanish politicians accused the government of causing a “national embarrassment” after fugitive Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont was able to return to the country, hold a rally in the middle of Barcelona, and then flee into hiding.
The Catalan police force, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, have launched Operación Jaula (meaning ‘cage’), fearing Puigdemont may have again fled the country.
Spanish newspaper ABC reports that police checks were in place along the main roads leading into France on Thursday afternoon, as officers searched cars crossing the border.
There was also heavy traffic across Barcelona as roadside police units checked vehicles.
The Catalan police are also facing questions over how Puigdemont was able to give a speech in front of a large crowd of supporters at the Arc de Triomf, just metres from the Catalan parliament in central Barcelona, while officers made no attempt to detain him.
“I’ve come today to remind you that we’re still here,” Puigdemont told the crowd. With reference to the illegal 2017 Catalan secession referendum, he said, “It has been seven years since they persecuted us for wanting to listen to the voice of the people of Catalonia. It has been years since they began a very harsh repression.”
He added: “We are not interested in being in a country where the amnesty laws did not amnesty.”
After his speech, he was hurried into an adjacent tent before jumping into a waiting car that sped away. The Times says an Associated Press photographer witnessed his escape.
A local police officer was later arrested, accused of helping Puigdemont flee.
Puigdemont has been living in exile in Belgium for the past seven years. He returned to Spain on Thursday morning in an attempt to stop the investiture of Salvador Illa as the new president of Catalonia. Illa, a member of the Catalan branch of Spain’s ruling Socialist Party, would be Catalonia’s first president in almost a decade to oppose independence for the region.
Alberto Feijóo, leader of the centre-right Partido Popular, described the episode as an “unbearable humiliation” for Spain.
“It is painful to witness this delirium, for which [Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez] is the one most responsible,” he posted on X. “It is unforgivable to damage Spain’s image in this way.”
“Puigdemont intended to take Catalonia out of the state, and in the end Sánchez has taken the state out of Catalonia,” he added.
Meanwhile, Santiago Abascal, president of the right-wing Vox party, said the reappearance of Puigdemont on Spanish soil is “a humiliation for all Spaniards” which shows “the destruction of the rule of law.” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez continues to “go unpunished in his political and economic corruption,” he said.
The Spanish government has so far said very little on the episode.
