Police in Barcelona are hunting for the separatist former leader of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, who made a dramatic return to Spain after a seven-year exile despite facing an outstanding arrest warrant.
For much of the past several years he has lived in Brussels, after police indicted him on charges linked to a failed bid for independence in 2017.
Mr Puigdemont briefly addressed hundreds of supporters who gathered near the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, shortly ahead of the expected 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 were expecting him to turn up inside the parliament building in time for the investiture ceremony at 10:00 (08:00 GMT), but he was nowhere to be seen.
Spanish media reported that an operation to find and arrest Mr Puigdemont has now been launched by the Mossos d’Esquadra – Catalan police. Quoting police sources, newspaper El Pais said the exits from Barcelona have been closed.
Roadblocks have also been set up across the city, a spokesperson for Catalonia’s interior department said in a statement.
There appear to be several motives behind Carles Puigdemont’s return to Spain.
Firstly, he wants to pressure the authorities into applying the new amnesty law to him, after the supreme court excluded him from its application on technical grounds.
He also aims to disrupt the investiture of Socialist Salvador Illa as the new Catalan president today.
The former Spanish health minister would become the region’s first non-nationalist leader since 2010.
Equally important for Mr Puigdemont is to assert himself and his Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) party as the main pro-independence force.
He is keen to cast his separatist rival, the Catalan Republican Left (ERC), as being complicit with Spanish unionism because of its agreement to support Mr Illa’s investiture.
Until a new local government is in place, ERC is still responsible for the Catalan police force, making the former regional president’s return particularly uncomfortable for the party.
