Carles Puigdemont Flees Spain Again After Rally, His Lawyer Says

Europe|Carles Puigdemont Flees Spain Again After Rally, His Lawyer Says

Carles Puigdemont, the fugitive Catalonia pro-independence leader, has dodged the Spanish authorities and fled the country again after popping up in Barcelona this week and holding a public rally, his lawyer said on Friday.

Mr. Puigdemont, who was president of the Catalan government when the region held a 2017 illegal independence referendum, has been living in self-imposed exile since then. Despite an arrest warrant by the Spanish authorities, he returned to Barcelona this week and held a rally near Catalonia’s regional Parliament on Thursday.

The Spanish police launched a manhunt to find him, with roadblocks and checks on cars entering and leaving Barcelona. But on Friday, his lawyer, Gonzalo Boye, said on Catalan radio that Mr. Puigdemont had left Spain.

Mr. Puigdemont had promised to be in Barcelona on Thursday when the regional Parliament’s new president, a Socialist who does not support Catalan independence, was scheduled to be voted in. Experts saw his return as a last-ditch attempt to remain relevant in Catalonia, where for the first time in decades, pro-independence parties did not win an outright majority in regional elections this year.

Jordi Turull, the general secretary of Mr. Puigdemont’s party, said that the leader was headed back to Waterloo, in Belgium, where he has spent at least part of his self-imposed exile. Mr. Turull said that Mr. Puigdemont had been in Spain for a few days before the rally.

The appearance — and mysterious disappearance — of Mr. Puigdemont, a highly polarizing figure, puzzled the country, amusing some and angering others. Many asked how could the Spanish authorities could allow him to come back, speak to a crowd of supporters, and then escape without being caught.

Two members of Catalonia’s police force were arrested on suspicion of helping Mr. Puigdemont escape, and the opposition accused Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez of “humiliating” Spain in an episode that highlighted severe security failures.

Mr. Puigdemont’s supporters, though, expressed pride in their leader.

“I am extremely happy that he came, that he managed to talk and that he was able to say what he wanted to say,” said Anna Navarro, a regional lawmaker with Mr. Puigdemont’s party. “It was an incredible day for the independence movement.”