Spain: Protest breaks out in Catalonia region over Carles Puigdemont's detention
Barcelona, Mar 26 (IBNS): Protests broke out in Catalonia region of Spain after former separatist leader, Carles Puigdemont, was detained in Germany on Sunday.
Puigdemont is wanted in Spain for sedition and rebellion, media reports said.
A European warrant for the arrest of the leader was reissued on Friday after he tweeted that Spain was an undemocratic country and an embarrassment for Europe, in the aftermath of detention of five Catalan separatist leaders.
Acting on the warrant, police had detained him on Sunday.
He was detained while crossing from Denmark on his way to Belgium, where he has been living in self-imposed exile since Catalonia's parliament unilaterally declared independence from Spain in October, BBC reported.
According to media reports, protesters were seen holding Catalonia flags and banners in their hands.
As per CNN report, footage posted on social media shows crowds meeting with police wearing helmets, but the protests appeared to be peaceful.
Catalonia regional police arrested nine people in Barcelona.
The Mossos d'Esquadra - the Catalonia police - said that the nine detainees were taken into custody for the crime of attacking authority during the protest, in which 98 people were reported injured, 90 of them in the regional capital, Barcelona, and eight elsewhere in Catalonia, according to local emergency services, Spanish news agency EFE reported.
Speaking on the arrest, a spokesperson for the Kiel city criminal police, Uwe Keller, told EFE that Puigdemont was picked up at 11:19 am (local time) on a road that connects Germany and Denmark and local media reported that he had been transferred to a prison in the northern town of Neumunster.
Judicial sources confirmed to EFE that Germany now has up to 90 days to decide whether to extradite Puigdemont to Spain, a move he has opposed stating he would not get a fair trial there.
He is likely to be produced before a German judge on Monday.
Image: Screengrab from YouTube
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