Puigdemont, former president of the regional government of Catalonia and protagonist of the region’s unilateral declaration of independence in 2017, is “safe” and “free”, after having managed to appear in public at a gathering of thousands of supporters in the center of Barcelona, this Thursday, without being arrested.
This, the first message in Puigdemont’s name, was made by Lluís Llach, a well-known Catalan separatist, on the social network X (formerly Twitter). Llach revealed that it was the man himself
“President Puigdemont asked me to inform you that he is in good health, safe and, above all, FREE,” he wrote.
It should be noted that Puigdemont has been living abroad since 2017 to evade Spanish justice and continues to be the target of an arrest warrant in national territory. Despite this, he managed to appear in public today.
President Puigdemont has asked me to notify you that he is healthy, safe and, above all, FREE. good night
— Lluís Llach (@lluis_llach) August 8, 2024
After addressing the crowd gathered in a square in the center of Barcelona from a stage, the separatist leader disappeared and his whereabouts are currently unknown.
Elected deputy in the Catalan elections of May 12, Puigdemont had announced on Wednesday that he would be at today’s parliamentary session, called to invest the socialist Salvador Illa as president of the regional government, but the plenary session began and took place without his presence.
Police had set up a security perimeter around parliament, with a police barrier that Puigdemont would have had to cross to access the building, but he never reached that location, where he was expected to be arrested.
The Mossos d’Esquadra then activated “Operation Jaula”, a security device, with road control, to try to locate Puigdemont, which had no results.
Catalan police said in a statement that they tried to arrest the pro-independence leader on the streets of Barcelona today but were unable to do so because the priority was to avoid disturbances, stressing that the politician was always surrounded by thousands of people and authorities.
In the face of criticism, the Catalan police also deny any “prior agreement or conversation” with Puigdemont.
The police assure that they activated a device considered proportional to avoid public disorder, in view of the announced return of Puigdemont to Spain, but also, at the same time, to guarantee the security and normality of the inauguration session of the new president of the regional government in the autonomous parliament.
So far, two members of the Mossos d’Esquadra have been arrested on suspicion of having helped the independence leader to leave the centre of Barcelona without being arrested.
Read Also: PP says Catalan independence movement has regained strength and blames Sánchez
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2612637/puigdemont-esta-de-boa-saude-em-seguranca-e-acima-de-tudo-livre
