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Police in Barcelona launched a manhunt for Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont on Thursday when he returned to Spain after nearly seven years abroad evading an arrest warrant.
The separatist politician vanished into a crowd of supporters shortly after addressing them in the Catalan capital. The interior ministry said roadblocks had been set up to vet vehicles heading out of the city.
The former Catalan president’s return is a threat to the stability of the country’s Socialist-led government, which depends on the votes of Puigdemont’s party to reach a parliamentary majority.
Puigdemont is wanted on charges of misuse of public funds after leading a failed bid for Catalan independence in 2017, which pitched Spain into its biggest crisis since its return to democracy. He fled the country in October 2017 and became an member of the European parliament living in Belgium.
He had said he would attend a vote on a new Catalan president in the regional parliament later on Thursday but did not appear with other lawmakers at the building, which is surrounded by police.
“It has been seven years since they persecuted us for wanting to listen to the voice of the people of Catalonia,” Puigdemont said. “Despite the fact they wanted to do us harm, despite the fact they have shown their face as repressers, today I came here to remind you that we are still here.”
The return of Puigdemont, 61, a man seen by many as a symbol of the long-running separatist struggle against the Spanish state, is set to roil national politics and re-energise parts of the Catalan independence movement loyal to him.
Sánchez had struck an amnesty deal with Catalan leaders in return for their votes, but the Supreme Court earlier this year said the amnesty would not apply to the charge of misuse of funds against Puigdemont even though it eliminated another charge of disobedience.
That leaves Sánchez open to accusations that he has not fulfilled his side of the bargain.
If Puigdemont’s party, Junts per Catalunya, boycotts any Sánchez initiatives, the prime minister will end up hobbled in parliament and unable to pass any legislation.
The Catalan leader’s arrest could trigger a “radicalisation within Junts”, said Joan Botella, emeritus professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. There had been a growing “wave of demands” for moderation inside the separatist party, but his arrest was likely to embolden hardliners, Botella said.
Puigdemont fled the country in October 2017, crossing the border into France crouched down on the back seat of a Škoda. A few days later Spanish authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.
Puigdemont said on Wednesday that he must return to Spain to “confront” the judges. “We cannot remain silent in the face of the attitude of rebellion in which some judges of the Supreme Court have indulged,” he said in a video posted on X.
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