The fugitive Catalan separatist leader shocked Spain by briefly appearing at a rally in Barcelona on Thursday and leading law enforcement on a search and arrest hunt that ultimately failed.
ADVERTISEMENTPublic officials and police in Catalonia are trying to establish the blame for the latest escape of fugitive separatist leader Carles Puigdemont, who appeared in public in Barcelona on Thursday and then disappeared before he could be arrested.
At a press conference, the head of the Catalan police, the Mossos d'Esquadra, Eduard Sallent, explained that after Puigdemont's speech, he and his Junts party colleague Jordi Turull went to a tent, put on hats, got into a vehicle and left.
Subsequently, a chase began, and a massive police operation was launched in an attempt to stop them escaping the city — but apparently too late.
On Friday morning, Turull confirmed to local radio station RAC1 that the former president had arrived in Catalonia on Tuesday and arrived in Belgium in the evening, according to local media.
Turull, the secretary general of Junts, has argued that Puigdemont's new escape is a form of "confrontation", and said Puigdemont was making decisions "as the day progressed".
Meanwhile, Sallent defended the Mossos.
"Carles Puigdemont has an arrest warrant that was confirmed in the morning, as soon as he was seen," he told the press conference. "The arrest was intended to be made in the right place, guaranteeing public and constitutional order. The facts were different from what was foreseen."
"Puigdemont was accompanied by people holding public office, with the aim of hindering the intervention of the Mossos," said Sallent.
However, he also condemned Mossos agents who were arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Puigdemont.
"They do not deserve to wear our uniform," he said. "The Mossos d'Esquadra is a democratic police force, not a patriotic police force."
The judge in charge of the case against those involved in the 2017 Catalan referendum and unconstitutional declaration of independence has asked for explanations and reports from both the Mossos and the Interior Ministry.
Everyone's a loser
Mario Ríos Fernández, political analyst and professor at the University of Girona, told Euronews that the political fallout from the debacle could be disastrous.
"The consequences for the Spanish government will be severe, at least in the short term, because the right wing Popular Party (PP) and the far-right party Vox will increase the pressure on Pedro Sánchez and his government," he said.
"They will link the flight of Puigdemont to concessions made to separatist parties in order to maintain the government's majority in the Spanish parliament."
The president of the PP, Nuñez Feijóo, has asked the president of the government, Pedro Sánchez, for accountability and requested his appearance and the immediate dismissal of those responsible for the police operation.
ADVERTISEMENTMeanwhile, the president of the far-right Vox party, Santiago Abascal, described Puigdemont's latest escape as a "humiliation for all Spaniards".
However, Fernández also said that Puigdemont would not necessarily come out of the incident stronger.
"With the escape, Puigdemont has lost some of the appeal that he has in the secessionist movement."