Far-Right Party Co-Founder Shot in the Face in Madrid
Sky News, November 9, 2023
A former Catalan political leader has been shot in the face in Madrid.
Alejandro Vidal-Quadras, who co-founded the far-right party Vox, was shot in the affluent Salamanca area at about 1.30pm on Thursday.
The 78-year-old was conscious when he was taken to hospital, a police spokesman said.
Mr Vidal-Quadras, who also used to lead Spain’s centre-right People’s Party in Catalonia, is expected to survive the attack.
Police are still searching for the gunman.
Santiago Abascal, president of the Vox party, said it is too early to speculate why Mr Vidal-Quadras was targeted.
“Thank god it seems that Alejandro Vidal-Quadras is out of danger,” he said.
The veteran former politician was walking down the street alone and about to get into his car, according to Spanish media, when he was shot by someone who had just got off a black Yamaha motorcycle.
Medical sources told El Mundo that the wound “crossed his jaw from one end to the other”.
The gunman and another person reportedly fled the scene on the motorcycle, driving the wrong way down a one-way street, before Mr Vidal-Quadras was taken in a serious condition to the Gregorio Maranon Hospital.
He is stable and conscious, El Mundo reports, citing medical sources, and his life is not in danger.
Police later confirmed they were still searching for two men who were on a motorbike, with the gunman said to be wearing a helmet.
The weapon is reported to be a 9mm parabellum calibre pistol.
No arrests have been made yet, and police have cordoned off the area where the shooting happened.
Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on social media he wants to convey his “solidarity and wishes for a speedy recovery” to Mr Vidal-Quadras.
Popular Party President Alberto Nunez Feijoo deplored the shooting and wished for his recovery.
Mr Vidal-Quadras became a member of the European Parliament before breaking away to co-found the Vox party, which he left shortly after a failed attempt to win a seat in 2014.
He hasn’t been active in politics for several years but has maintained a public role as a media commentator.
He served as a vice president for the European Parliament and took an interest in foreign affairs, participating in the legislature’s delegations to the former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
