The Catalan police have arrested one of their officers accused of helping Carles Puigdemont escape on his return to Barcelona. The Catalan regional police have arrested a police officer who was the owner of the car in which the former Catalan president allegedly left the vicinity of the Catalan Parliament when he was going to be arrested. Various police forces continue to work on the operation dubbed ‘Operation Jaula’ to find and arrest Carles Puigdemont.
The former Catalan president, as he had been announcing for several days, appeared this Thursday in the vicinity of the Parliament in the hours before the investiture of Salvador Illa. After a speech in front of hundreds of supporters, the Junts deputies set off towards the Catalan chamber and it was at that moment that Puigdemont disappeared. Minutes later the Mossos, who had planned an arrest away from the spotlights and the protesters, began their search.
The Catalan regional police, to whom the Interior Ministry had delegated the arrest of the former president, have developed an operation to control the entrances and exits of Barcelona, as well as on the border with France, in an attempt to intercept Carles Puigdemont, wanted by the Supreme Court. Government sources have expressed their discontent with the actions of the Mossos d’Esquadra in the operation.
Although there have been rumours that the operation had been deactivated at midday, Interior sources explained to elDiario.es that the operation has not yet been lifted and is still ongoing. The changes that have been observed are due to the change in the officers’ shifts, which has been used to assess whether some controls should be removed, others installed or the number of officers changed.
The former president appeared for a few minutes before the crowd awaiting his return after seven years abroad. “A country with an amnesty law that does not grant amnesty has a democratic problem,” he said before leaving the stage and disappearing after arriving on foot.
Later, lawyer Jordi Cabré, from Puigdemont’s defence team, said that the plan they had devised for his return had gone “perfectly” and that the Catalan politician’s objective was not “to be arrested or to boycott any investiture session”. In an interview with ElNacional.cat reported by Europa Press, he said that the former president’s aim was to “exercise his right as an elected deputy” in the Parliament and added that he still maintains it.
Asked about Puigdemont’s whereabouts, he said he did not know and that he did not know if it would be announced in the next few hours, but he was pleased that so far the result of what had been planned “has been perfect”. “We suffered a lot until five minutes before the president arrived. Therefore, I can say that the mountain climbed during the morning has been tough,” explained Cabré.
Source: www.eldiario.es
