Self-exiled Catalan separatist, Puigdemont returns to Spain after 7 years

Carles Puigdemont, a former Catalan separatist leader, who violated an arrest warrant reappeared at a protest in Barcelona, Spain, on Thursday after seven years in self-imposed exile, before fleeing before police could arrest him.

Puigdemont addressed a crowd of thousands of supporters in the Catalan capital from a platform near the Catalan parliament before retiring backstage.

He told the throng that he wanted to reignite the independence movement that had thrown Spain into political turmoil seven years ago.

“Today, many thought they’d be celebrating my arrest, and thought that this punishment would dissuade us – and you,” he said.

“Today I came to remind them that we are still here! We are still here because we have no right to quit.”

Senior officials of his Junts party, including parliament speaker Josep Rull, and members of the moderate separatist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya which currently runs the regional government led a march to the Catalan parliament after the rally as journalists tried to spot whether Puigdemont was among them.

A debate to swear in Socialist Salvador Illa as Catalonia’s new president, ending a decade of separatist rule, began amid confusion and speculation about Puigdemont’s whereabouts and how he could have vanished in plain sight.

A Catalan Interior Ministry spokesperson confirmed Puigdemont had evaded capture.

Puigdemont, 61, fled to Belgium seven years ago after a failed secession bid and has been living in ‘exile’ ever since. He is now likely to be detained over an outstanding arrest warrant for alleged embezzlement, which he denies.