(FILES) Catalan separatist leader and candidate of Junts per Catalunya - JxCat political party, Carles Puigdemont (R) raises his fist during a campaign rally in the French southeastern town of Argeles-sur-Mer on May 4, 2024 ahead of the regional election in the Spanish northeastern region of Catalonia. 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 elections on May 12, 2024, in the northeastern Spanish region of Catalonia, which lies just 30 kilometres (18 miles) across the border. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)