BARCELONA: Former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont defied an arrest warrant to appear at a rally in Barcelona on Thursday after seven years of self-imposed exile, before fleeing the scene with the help of a local police officer.

Amid a heavy police presence, Puigdemont had told a crowd of thousands of followers in the Catalan capital he aimed to revive the independence drive that plunged Spain into political crisis in 2017.

“They thought they’d be celebrating my arrest and they thought that this punishment would dissuade us,” he said. “Well, they are wrong.” When he had finished speaking, Puigdemont got into a white car belonging to a police officer and left the vicinity, a Catalan government source said, sparking a frantic search by authorities to apprehend him.

The regional police, known as the Mossos d’Esquadra, said one of its officers had been arrested as part of its investigation into Puigdemont’s whereabouts. The separatist leader, 61, fled to Belgium seven years ago after a failed secession bid and has been living in exile ever since.

He faces an arrest warrant for alleged embezzlement related to a 2017 independence referendum ruled illegal by the Spanish courts. Puigdemont says the vote was legal and therefore the charges linked to it have no basis.

A Mossos spokesman said there was no prior arrangement with Puigdemont for his arrest and the force had decided the detention should be made “at the most appropriate time so as not to generate public disorder.” Puigdemont ally Laura Borras described the arrested officer on X as “a patriot and exemplary Mosso.” The hunt for Puigdemont created traffic chaos in Barcelona and near the border with France as police set up roadblocks and searched car boots.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2024