Carles Puigdemont’s lawyer, Gonzalo Boy, has stated that the leader of Junts per Catalunya is neither in Catalonia nor outside the Spanish state, in an interview at RAC1. He did not specify whether or not he would return to Waterloo (Belgium), although he specified that "today or tomorrow" will be the turn of the former President of the Generalitat to talk about his future. Puigdemont spoke on 8 August at the Arc de Triomphe in Barcelona to the media and about 3,000 people, where there were also dozens of uniformed and paisano agents. "I don't know when we'll see each other again," the former president of the Generalitat de Catalunya said in a statement. After the conference, Carles Puigdemont was not seen again in the “human chain” that was planned – and was reported from the speakers of the event – to Parliament, and Mayka Navarro, a journalist from La Vanguardia, told the version of the Puigdemont leak “obtained from official sources”.

The Interior Minister of the Catalan Government, Joan Ignasi Elena, stated at a press conference on 9 August that three operations were planned to stop Puigdemont, but that "no action was expected as inadequate as that which has been the top leader" of Catalonia. The leader of Junts had the help of a group of mosses for escape, just as he had the help of Sergeant Lluís Escorà when he fled in 2017, according to La Vanguardia. During the last 7 years of exile, the politician has had the support of several groups of Mossos, who have planned and executed the flight. For this reason, two of the Mossos have been arrested for taking part in the flight of Carles Puigdemont in Barcelona.

The previous days had spread through the social networks that Puigdemont was approaching 08:00 hours at the Passeig de Lluís Companys in Barcelona. Police have reported that about 200 people accompanied Puigdemont to the Arc de la Victoria and "could not stop him before the speech began", according to the middle elMon. Puigdemont started his speech at 09:00 in the morning at a public event held in Barcelona. Meanwhile, a woman with a Honda vehicle settled on the right of the stage, with a wheelchair in the co-driver's seat. Between the stage and the car, the organizers of the event placed some tents in which all the members of the tents put straw caps, all with the same hat. When Puigdemont ended his speech, his lawyer grabbed his arm, Puigdemont went to the tent, took off his jacket and put on the straw cap that all the other people had.

The organizers of the event called for the "human chain" to be maintained to bring Puigdemont to the Parlament, but the politician, former deputy Jordi Turull and a person who has not been identified, boarded the Honda vehicle that was next to the stage. According to one Mosso, Puigdemont and Turull wore the same hat and used three vehicles for flight (two cars and one motorcycle). The Commissioner General of the Mossos, Eduard Sallent, repeated through a press conference what he said: "The facts happened very quickly. Puigdemont and Turull went to a tent, got the hat on, got into a car and left."

Puigdemont sat in a wheelchair, over the co-driver's seat. The Mossos realized that Puigdemont was in the car and, before he could take the cars, they started running and tried to stop him. La Vanguardia explained that they were "within ten meters" away to reach the car, but that by changing the traffic light signal the vehicle was able to flee.

At the entrance to the park of Ciutadella, where the "human chain" would pass, were Montserrat Estruch, chief curator of the Mossos de Barcelona and Sallent, along with four police vehicles. There is an open investigation to clarify the responsibilities, and Sallent has publicly called for "forgiveness" for the "inconvenience caused to the whole country."