AP:ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE SACKED Catalonia leader has gone into hiding as he faces the threat of 30 years in jail for "rebellion" as Spain takes over the running of the region today.
Carles Puidgemont has reportedly been holed up in a safehouse in Sant Julià de Ramis since the Catalan Parliament voted to declare independence on Friday.
Spanish prosecutors are considering filing charges of rebellion against Mr Puigdemont, who is expected may try and turn up for work today, and his ministers for their separatist actions.
The punishment for rebellion is a prison sentence of up to 30 years.
Mr Puigdemont is understood to be staying at his former family home before he took office - about 70 miles from Barcelona - with his wife, while their children are cared for elsewhere.
One of his bodyguards, who did not want to be named, claims the sacked president is planning to leave his bolthole and go back to work in Barcelona on Monday - despite threats he would be arrested.
REUTERS
He said: "The President is nervous because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow.
"He told me that tomorrow he is going to Barcelona. Security is on high alert."
However, former Spanish judge Elpidio Jose Silva has said there are no grounds to bring charges against Mr Puigdemont because the independence declaration was non-violent.
He told Catalan public broadcaster TV3: "There is a crime of sedition only because [Spanish prime minister] Mariano Rajoy says it."
And the crisis has exposed tensions between European Union allies as Belgium said Mr Puigdemont could claim asylum in the country because he was the victim of Spanish persecution.
There has been no indication that Mr Puigdemont has requested asylum after Spain took control of Catalonia's government.
Spain’s constitutional court is likely to rule swiftly on whether Catalan's declaration of independence violated the 1978 constitution, which prohibits regions from unilaterally splitting from Spain.
It comes after Nazi-saluting fascists clashed with baton-wielding police in Barcelona – as a pro-union protest descended into violence on Sunday.
Organisers of the march claim over one million people took part in the protest in the Catalan capital as a reaction against the region’s controversial declaration of independence last week.
But footage shows demonstrators draped in Spanish flags fighting with cops before some fascist supporters give a Nazi salute at the end of the shocking clip.
Other footage from Madrid shows protestors also giving the fascist salute while chanting “Viva Franco” referencing the country’s former dictator General Franco.
The crowds in both cities have been chanting for Mr Puigdemont to be jailed for declaring independence.
The vast crowds could be heard chanting “this time we are going to vote” in reference to the regional election on December 21 which have been called by Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.
The Catalan parliament was also dissolved by Rajoy and the elections in December will result in a new regional government being formed.
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