Carles Puigdemont on way back to Belgium after appearance in Barcelona

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is on his way back to Belgium after he made a speech in Barcelona on Thursday and avoided the police, according to Jordi Turull, secretary-general of Puigdemont's party Junts per Catalunya.

Turull said in an interview on Catalan radio station RAC1 that Puigdemont was returning to his home in Waterloo, just outside Brussels. Catalonia's former separatist leader has been living there for the past seven years after fleeing Spain. It’s possible, however, that Puigdemont is still in the south of France, where he also has an office. According to his lawyers, he will soon disclose where he is.

Puigdemont appeared on a stage near the Catalan parliament in Barcelona on Thursday to give a short speech. He had announced in advance that he would return for the investiture vote in the regional parliament to elect a new leader of Catalonia. He had said he would also attend the debate and vote of confidence on the new Catalan government in parliament, but he quickly fled again after his short speech.

The Spanish police still have an arrest warrant out for the separatist for his role in an independence referendum that was banned by Spanish judges in 2017. But the Catalan police didn’t intervene during his speech and failed to detain him afterwards.

Puigdemont's party also threatened to cancel their support for the Spanish government as long as Puigdemont and some other Catalan leaders are not given full amnesty. Junts gave support to prime minister Pedro Sánchez's left-wing minority government in exchange for the approval of a new amnesty law. But Spain's Supreme Court ruled in July that not all the crimes Puigdemont is accused of are covered by that law.

^{Carles Puigdemont arrives with Jordi Turull (L) for a speech ahead of an investiture vote at the Parliament of Catalonia, in Barcelona on 8 August 2024 © PHOTO MANAURE QUINTERO / AFP}