Police in Barcelona are hunting for former Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who made a dramatic return to Spain after seven years in exile despite facing an arrest warrant.
Mossos d’Esquadra – the Catalan police – have set up roadblocks inside Barcelona and leading out of the city as part of Operation Jaula – or “cage” – in the search for Mr Puigdemont, who was seen leaving a protest this morning in a car.
He has lived in Brussels for much of the past several years after police charged him with involvement in a failed bid for Catalan independence in 2017.
Mr Puigdemont gave a brief speech to hundreds of supporters gathered near the Catalan parliament building in Barcelona, shortly before the inauguration of the new head of the Catalan government.
He said he had returned “to remind people that we are still here”, adding: “Holding a referendum is not and will never be a crime”.
Then Mr Puigdemont disappeared.
Many expected him to appear inside the capitol building in time for the inauguration ceremony at 10:00 (08:00 GMT), but he was nowhere to be seen.
A spokesman for Catalonia’s interior ministry said in a statement that barricades have now been erected across the city.
Spanish television also showed images from La Jonquera, a city on the border with France, where police could be seen stopping cars and checking shoes.
Puigdemont ally Aleix Sarri criticised the police operation at X, saying: “Hundreds of police surrounded Barcelona to arrest President Puigdemont. A manhunt paid for with public money to please the powerful in Madrid. This is not what a democracy does.”
Police reportedly used pepper spray to disperse Puigdemont supporters gathered near the parliament building.
Ignacio Garriga of the far-right Vox party, which is strongly opposed to Catalan independence, said Vox would “do everything necessary to ensure Puigdemont is arrested”.
There appear to be a number of motives behind Carles Puigdemont’s return to Spain.
First, he wanted to pressure the government to apply the new amnesty law to him, after the Supreme Court disqualified him from applying it on a technicality.
He also aimed to sabotage the inauguration of Socialist Salvador Illa as Catalonia’s new president today.
Spain’s former health minister will become the region’s first non-nationalist leader since 2010.
Equally important for Mr Puigdemont is to position himself and his Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) party as the main force in favour of independence.
He wants to portray his separatist rival, the left-wing Catalan Republican Party (ERC), as complicit in Spanish federalism for agreeing to support Mr Illa’s inauguration.
Until the new regional government is formed, the ERC will remain responsible for running the Catalan police force, making the return of the former regional president particularly uncomfortable for the party.
