BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for ex-Catalonia leader and fugitive Carles Puigdemont , a celebrated campaigner for Catalan independence who made a sensational return to Spain and an equally sensational get
BARCELONA, Spain — Police launched a manhunt in Barcelona on Thursday for ex-Catalonia leader and fugitive Carles Puigdemont, a celebrated campaigner for Catalan independence who made a sensational return to Spain and an equally sensational getaway from a speech in the city with the alleged help of a local police officer.
Puigdemont kept his travel plans secret before setting out to the wealthy Catalan region in northeastern Spain. He gave a speech in front of a large crowd of supporters in central Barcelona under the noses of police officers, who made no attempt to detain him. About three hours after Puigdemont vanished, Catalan police called off the manhunt without saying why.
Once Puigdemont had slipped away, roadside police units checked vehicles across the city of around 1.6 million people in an effort to nab him. The checks snarled city traffic. Police also checked vehicles heading on highways to neighboring France. Addressing the crowd in the park and at times pumping his fist, Puigdemont accused Spanish authorities of “a crackdown” on the Catalan separatist movement.
Spain’s government encouraged a deal brokered after months of deadlock between Salvador Illa’s Catalan Socialist Party and the other main Catalan separatist party and left-wing Esquerra Republicana . That deal had ensured just enough support in Catalonia’s parliament for Illa to become the next regional president Thursday.
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