Spain: Political earthquake with Carles Puigdemont – Police on foot even searched sewers

An alarm has been sounded in Spain in the past few hours. Former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has announced that he will return to the country despite facing immediate arrest for allegedly “taking responsibility” for organizing the illegal independence referendum in 2017.

Despite the passage of a controversial amnesty bill last May, his arrest warrant remains in effect as he prepares to return to cause a political earthquake.

The separatist leader said the trip home was his last resort to try to avoid what he described as a pro-Spanish regional government in Catalonia, which is due to take office this week. He intends – how – to attend the Catalan parliament when it votes on a new regional president on Thursday (08/08).

Puigdemont’s social media posts

A day before the vote, he took to social media to announce his plan, saying of the vote in parliament: “I have to be there and I want to be there. That’s why I started my journey back from exile.”

The Catalan parliament has summoned all deputies to discuss the inauguration of the region’s next president. I have to be there and I want to be there. That’s why I’ve embarked on the journey back from exile. pic.twitter.com/jcO5MA8czX

– krls.eth / Carles Puigdemont (@KRLS) August 7, 2024

Earlier this week he published a three-page letter saying that after seven years in exile in Belgium and France, he would immediately return to his homeland “to stand in the way of Spanish repression.”

Checks everywhere

The Mossos d’Esquadra – Catalonia’s autonomous police force – has taken it upon itself to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The plan to prevent Puigdemont from entering parliament takes into account all criteria. According to Politico, in the neoclassical palace of the Catalan parliament, only one entrance to the garden will be open and only accredited MPs and their staff will be allowed in.

As part of the security operation, police are also searching room by room in parliament. Catalan police are also conducting searches even in the basement of the nearly 400-year-old Catalan parliament building to ensure that no one is hiding there.

They also searched the sewers and agents closed the door connecting the parliament to the Barcelona Zoo, which surrounds the building on three sides.

He expressed his hope to return victorious.

Puigdemont faces immediate arrest if he returns to the country he fled in October 2017. He travelled to Belgium three days after Catalonia’s failed declaration of independence to avoid jail. The failed referendum led to days of protests and hundreds of arrests, including of fellow politicians.

The separatist politician declined to stand in June’s European elections, hoping to make a triumphant return to the region he fled seven years ago. But Socialist candidate Salvador Illa won the most votes and last week reached a deal that will allow him to form a minority government.