A major manhunt was underway on Thursday after separatist leader Carles Puigdemont appeared before supporters in Barcelona. 

Police set up checkpoints on all major roads leading out of the Catalan capital, with officers searching vehicles. Puigdemont, who is the subject of an arrest warrant over his role in a failed independence bid, returned to Spain for the first time in seven years.

Spanish police have detained a colleague suspected of helping the separatist leader escape into hiding in Barcelona, local media reported.

The officer was reported to have provided a white car in which Puigdemont is said to have escaped after delivering his message.

Later on Thursday, the head of a separatist organization posted on X after communicating with Puigdemont that the former Catalan president is "safe" and "free."

Referendums are not a 'crime,' Puigedemont tells supporters

Puigdemont had appeared on stage surrounded by officials of his hardline separatist party, Junts, to address thousands of cheering supporters in Catalan.

"Despite them wanting to damage us, I have come here today to remind them that we are still here," he said.

"We don't have the right to give up because the right to self-determination belongs to the Catalan people."

"It will never be a crime to hold a referendum."

Puigdemont was planning to attend Thursday's session of the regional parliament, in which a new regional leader was set to be sworn in after a May election that saw Puigdemont's party finishing second.

"That in order to do so I would risk an arbitrary and illegal detention is evidence of the democratic anomaly that we have a duty to denounce and fight against," he said in a video posted on social media.

Why are Spanish police trying to arrest Puigdemont

The 61-year-old has dedicated his career to Catalan independence, but his party's largely uncompromising approach has caused conflict with Spain's central government and other separatist parties. 

He led Catalonia's regional government in 2017 when it proceeded with an independence referendum despite a court ban. This was followed by a short-lived declaration of independence.

Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium after a Spanish police crackdown, faces charges of embezzlement for his part in the attempt to separate Catalonia from the rest of Spain.

The Catalan government says about 2.3 million people, some 43% of eligible voters, took part in the referendum and that just over 92% voted to break away from Spain.

However, many people opposed to independence boycotted the ballot.

Spain's parliament in May passed an amnesty law for those involved in the secession bid, but the country's Supreme Court last month said this did not apply to those accused of misusing public funds, a charge leveled at the Junts leader.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez agreed to the amnesty law in exchange for Junts support for a fragile minority government in the Spanish parliament. That sparked large street protests organized by the far-right against the measure.

Sanchez faces opposition from the right and also parts of his own Socialist party over a proposal to allow Catalonia full control of the taxes collected in the region. 

rc/ab (AP, Reuters)