Former Catalan PP leader Alejo Vidal-Quadras, 78, was shot in the face on Thursday afternoon in Núñez de Balboa street, in Madrid’s Salamanca district, police sources told Europa Press.
The former “popular” Catalan leader is aware of this. He was taken to a hospital in Madrid. According to Madrid Emergency, they stated that the victim was hit in the jaw, with an entry and exit hole.
The state police are investigating the incident. The city police cordoned off the area where the events took place.
The attacker, who was wearing a black helmet, fled on a motorcycle. The police do not rule out any hypothesis, including theft. The investigation is being conducted by the homicide department.
Vidal-Quadras was Vice-President of the European Parliament and President of the conservative People’s Party of Catalonia in the 1990s and then served as a Member of the European Parliament until 2014, after which he briefly worked in the European Parliament for the Spanish far-right party Vox, due to their disagreements, also left the leadership of this formation.
The President of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanches, sent the Catalan politician a message of solidarity and a speedy recovery. “Right now, all my affection goes to him and his family. “We trust that the investigation will clarify the facts as quickly as possible and that those responsible will be arrested,” he said in a message on his account on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
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The attack took place on the same day that the leaders of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) and the Catalan independent parties Together for Catalonia (JxCat) signed an agreement. An agreement on a future amnesty for people who took part in Catalonia’s independence process in 2017 opens the door for socialist Pedro Sánchez to be reappointed to head the government for another four years.
The amnesty law is due to be debated in Spain’s Congress in the coming days, before Pedro Sánchez’s inauguration debate, scheduled for next week.
This amnesty project was strongly criticized by the conservative People’s Party (PP), which won the July 23 elections but whose leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, did not have enough votes to become president when he went to Congress for investment in October.
He also rejected Vox’s far right, whose leaders supported the protests in front of the PSOE headquarters, which in the case of Madrid saw incidents involving police intervention in recent days.
Wednesday marked the sixth consecutive day of the latest wave of protests in front of the PSOE headquarters in Madrid, among other places, where heavy riot police were deployed following the incidents. Six were arrested and 39 were injured.
Police handed over one of their vehicles to two young men whose faces were covered and who were accused by other protesters who did not want violent behavior.
Among those present were members of right-wing extremist groups who had been there in recent days. Some media have identified individuals with ties to the far right who have been brought to justice for their past actions.
(With information from Europa Press, EFE and Aristegui Noticias)
Source: La Neta Neta
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
