In France, Puigdemont rallies separatists ahead of Catalan vote
The Hindu
Excited crowd chants for Puigdemont in French seaside town as Catalan separatist leader campaigns in southern France
"Puigdemont, president!" chanted an excited crowd waiting to enter a campaign rally in Argeles-sur-Mer, a French seaside town near the Spanish border in an area Catalan separatists refer to as "Northern Catalonia".
It is here that Carles Puigdemont, the self-exiled Catalan separatist leader, has set up his campaign headquarters ahead of Sunday's elections in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, which lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) across the border.
It was nearly midday and several thousand activists were waiting to get into the venue to see the 61-year-old former Catalan leader, who led the botched 2017 bid for Catalan independence from Spain before fleeing the country to avoid prosecution.
He lived for several years in Belgium but relocated last month to the southeastern French region of Pyrenees-Orientales, where Catalan culture and language is widespread and which separatists see as the northern part of their homeland.
Unable to enter Spain, where he is still subject to an arrest warrant, Mr. Puigdemont, who heads the hardline separatist JxCat party, is campaigning in southern France ahead of the May 12 regional elections.
His rallies are drawing busloads of supporters, who are ferried across the border in coaches plastered with posters of Mr. Puigdemont's face and slogans like "Catalonia needs independence!" on a trip that takes at least two and a half hours.
In the carpark outside the venue, several buses were waiting, as nearby loudspeakers vibrated with festive Catalan music that is punctuated by upbeat messages from the organisers.
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