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Local television reported that police had located Petitdemont but had not yet arrested him.
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Steven Bergen
After a short speech, Carles Puigdemont, surrounded by members of his Unity for Catalonia party, hurried through the crowds towards the parliament building.
When the group arrived at the parliament a few minutes ago, Petitdemont was not among them.
Helicopters are currently circling the skies above Parliament, but if he evades arrest and returns to his base in the south of France he would be questioned.
Officers from the Mossos d'Esquadra police block the entrance to the Catalan Parliament on the day of the inaugural debate to elect a new leader for the Catalan region, in Barcelona, Spain, August 8, 2024. Photo: John Nasca/Reuters Share
Updated 03.45 EDT
Steven Bergen
Steven Bergen reports from Barcelona this morning.
I'm not sure if anyone was actually expecting him to show up, but at nine o'clock sharp he showed up, and it was as if he'd never been gone.
There was already a nostalgic air about a time when many gathered here believed independence was within reach. Slogans on T-shirts spoke of 12 years of rallies and demonstrations that ultimately brought not independence but hatred and division, and the first non-nationalist Catalan government in two decades.
It was here in 2017 that Carles Puigdemont appeared on the big screen and proclaimed the creation of the Republic, only to be announced eight seconds later that the proclamation had been suspended. For those eight seconds, the separatists thought their dream had come true, but it was a short journey from jubilation to disappointment.
But now their leader has returned here in the flesh.
History moved on, but here time stood still for a few minutes.
Catalan independence leader and former president Carles Puigdemont addresses supporters as he arrives near the Catalan parliament for an inauguration debate in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, August 8. Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP
Puigdemont returns to Spain after several years
Fugitive former Catalan President Carles Puigdemont has returned to Spain and addressed a crowd in Barcelona this morning.
Today I'm here to remind you that we're still here.
Petitdemont is likely to be arrested.
Carles Puigdemont arrives as hardline separatist party JxCAT organises a welcoming ceremony for him ahead of his inauguration vote in the Catalan parliament, in Barcelona, August 8, 2024. Photo: Manaure Quintero/AFP/Getty ImagesPro-independence supporters waved Catalan “Estellada” flags as Catalonia's exiled separatist leader Carles Puigdemont arrived on stage to deliver a speech. Photo: Manaure Quintero/AFP/Getty ImagesShare
Who is Carles Puigdemont?
Puigdemont is a Catalan independence activist who served as regional president from 2016 to 2017. He has been living in self-imposed exile for the past seven years.
After fleeing Spain to avoid arrest for his role in a failed separatist movement, leaving other members of his cabinet facing trial and imprisonment, he reinvented himself in the small Belgian town of Waterloo as a member of the European Parliament and leader of what he called a “government in exile” in Catalonia. Others were less kindly of him, seeing him as an “operetta nationalist”, a tired and devalued figure.
But Spanish lawmakers in May finally approved a controversial amnesty bill that Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez offered to Catalan separatists in return for helping him return to power after last year's inconclusive general elections.
But in July, Spain's Supreme Court upheld arrest warrants for Puigdemont and others accused of misappropriating public funds, ruling that the amnesty law did not apply to them.
This week, Puigdemont announced he would attend the swearing-in ceremony of the region's new leader at the Catalan parliament in Barcelona. Socialist politician Salvador Illa is set to be named Catalonia's new president.
Lili Bayer and Sam Jones
Carles Puigdemont speaks in Amélie-les-Bains, southwest France, on July 27, 2024. Photo: Idriss Bigout Gilles/AFP/Shared Getty Images
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