Spanish police are hunting Carles Puigdemont after the former Catalan president briefly appeared at a rally in central Barcelona, returning to Spain following nearly seven years of self-imposed exile despite an arrest warrant against him.

The 61-year-old, whose reappearance could complicate Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s ability to govern, spoke to around 4,500 people gathered at Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf before disappearing into the crowd. Police launched a manhunt across Catalonia, temporarily blocking roads that lead out of the capital to the border with France. One officer was taken into custody accused of helping Puigdemont to flee.

“Today I have come to remind you that we are still here,” he said in his speech. “We are here because we don’t have the right to give up. Because the right to self-determination belongs to the people.”

After his address, Puigdemont appeared to head towards parliament, where a debate to swear in the next regional president began at 10am. Crowds formed what was effectively a human barrier around him that prevented his arrest.

La Vanguardia newspaper later published a video that showed what looked to be Puigdemont driving away in a white Honda car. According to a police statement, the detained officer was the owner of the escape vehicle.

His return to Spain could pose a challenge for Sanchez, who last year clung onto power, thanks to deals with regional pro-independence parties including Puigdemont’s Junts.

Puigdemont stands accused of misusing public funds as part of the 2017 independence referendum, which went ahead on his watch despite being declared illegal by Spain’s Supreme Court.

An amnesty law, approved by Spain’s parliament in May, was meant to pardon him along with other Catalan separatists. But a court deemed it didn’t apply to those accused of embezzlement, or if it affected the European Union’s financial interests.

Sanchez’s administration relies on the backing of eight parties in parliament and Puigdemont’s appearance in Barcelona could mean that the fragile arrangement is in jeopardy.

Junts and its traditional rival in the Catalan separatist camp, ERC, have both lost support since the failure of their push to secede, allowing the Socialists to win the most seats in the Catalan assembly in elections in May.

Sanchez subsequently negotiated a deal with ERC to support Socialist candidate Salvador Illa as the next president of Catalonia.

Puigdemont left Spain for Belgium in 2017, after his attempt to break up the euro region’s fourth-largest economy was met with a swift crackdown from Spain’s central government.

  - Bloomberg