Minister for External Action and Transparency of the Catalonia government Victoria Alsina says the Catalan government is 'on the side of' exiled former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont after his arrest in Italy four years after fleeing Spain over an independence referendum that Madrid ruled illegal. The member of the European Parliament, who has been based in Belgium since late 2017, was detained in the Sardinian town of Alghero on Thursday while on his way to a cultural festival, aides have said. IMAGE AND SOUNDBITES