Ex-Catalan leader in German court
Puigdemont’s arrest ignites wave of protests in Catalonia
Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to appear in court Monday following his arrest in Germany which triggered a wave of protests in Catalonia where thousands of separatists faced off with police.
Puigdemont spent the night in a German jail cell following his arrest Sunday after he crossed the border from Denmark, under a European warrant issued by Spain.
The arrest comes five months after he went on the run as Spanish prosecutors sought to charge him with sedition and rebellion in the wake of a vote by the Catalan parliament to declare independence.
It marks the latest chapter in a secession saga that has bitterly divided Catalans and triggered Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
According to Puigdemont’s lawyer Jaume Alonso-Cuevillas, he was on his way back to Belgium, where he fled after Spanish authorities moved to impose direct rule over Catalonia.
The ousted Catalan leader, 55, will be brought before a German court Monday to confirm his identity. It will later decide if he is to remain in custody pending extradition proceedings.
“It will take place in the course of the day, probably in the afternoon,” a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office for Schleswig-Holstein state said.
Calling the situation “very delicate,” Alonso-Cuevillas told Catalonia’s Rac1 radio it was “very likely that he will not be allowed to leave Germany.”
Clashes erupted as protesters took to the streets in Catalonia on Sunday following his arrest.
Catalan police decked out in riot gear shoved and hit demonstrators with batons to keep the crowd from advancing on the office of the Spanish government’s representative in Barcelona, the capital of the wealthy northeastern region.
Officers fired warning shots in the air to try to contain the demonstrators, who pushed large recycling containers towards police. Some people threw glass bottles, cans and eggs at police.
About 90 people were slightly injured during the protests in Barcelona, including 22 police officers, emergency services said.
Another seven people were injured at a protest in Lleida, about 150 kilometers west of Barcelona and one person was injured in Tarragona to the south.