Carles Puigdemont, the leader of the pro-independence Junts party, has marked two years since his brief return to Barcelona by publishing photographs which he says show his journey into Catalonia and the hours before he addressed supporters near the Arc de Triomf on 8 August 2024.

For Barcelona residents, the post revisits an episode that disrupted the day Salvador Illa was confirmed by the Catalan Parliament as president of the Generalitat, Catalonia's regional government. Puigdemont appeared at a rally despite an outstanding arrest warrant, then left Spain before Mossos d'Esquadra, Catalonia's regional police, detained him.

In his post on X, titled We are still here, and we always will be, Puigdemont said he entered Catalonia late on Tuesday 6 August 2024 through La Jonquera, in Girona province, travelling on the motorway in the back seat of a car with Junts secretary general Jordi Turull.

"As you can see, we were not in the boot, nor were we disguised, nor did we enter camouflaged in the darkness of the night," Puigdemont wrote alongside a photograph of the pair in the vehicle.

He also published an image of himself consulting notes on a sofa, which he said was taken shortly before he went to the Arc de Triomf. Reuters reported at the time that he addressed a crowd there before disappearing ahead of an expected arrest.

Criticism of the police operation and Illa government

Puigdemont said he had abandoned plans to enter the parliamentary chamber for Illa's investiture debate because police had established a large security operation around Parc de la Ciutadella, where the Parliament is located.

He criticised Joan Ignasi Elena, then Catalonia's interior minister, and accused the police operation of preventing pro-independence supporters from helping him reach Parliament. Puigdemont said his purpose had been to speak publicly and, if possible, return safely to Waterloo, Belgium.

"We knew that it would lead us into a period of great dependence and would launch an agenda of voracious national deconstruction," Puigdemont wrote of the government led by Illa, whom he described as the Generalitat's most Spanish nationalist president.

Spain's Supreme Court had maintained an arrest warrant for Puigdemont despite the amnesty law passed by Spain's parliament in May 2024, Reuters reported on 7 August 2024. The warrant related to embezzlement charges connected with the 2017 independence bid.

Three Mossos officers closer to trial

The Barcelona Court has since reopened proceedings involving three Mossos officers investigated over Puigdemont's departure from Barcelona on 8 August 2024. According to ARA's report on the court decision, the judges found indications that could support allegations that the officers failed in their duty to pursue crime.

  • Investigating Court number 24 of Barcelona had previously dismissed the case.
  • The Barcelona Court upheld appeals by the Public Prosecutor's Office and private prosecutions brought by Vox and Hazte Oír.
  • The court ordered a decision that could bring the three officers to trial, subject to any further investigative steps.

Gabriel Rufián, ERC's spokesperson in the Spanish Congress, criticised the episode in a message replying to Turull. He said Junts had created "enormous frustration" and had "played with a Catalan institution like the national police of Catalonia".

Reported by ARA, Joan Faus, reuters.com, David Latona, BBC, Reuters, EFE, apnews.com, Euronews.com, J. G. Albalat, politico.eu, catalannews.com, Jaime Barrionuevo, efe.com, Oriol Solé Altimira, Agencias, eldiario.es.