ONE of the candidates running in the upcoming elections in Spain’s northern Pais Vasco (Basque Country) region was attacked last night by a man with pepper spray.
Imanol Pradales, from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), was sprayed in the eyes as he left a party rally in Barakaldo, Vizcaya province. His driver was also injured as a result of the attack.
The Ertzaintza regional police force arrested a 49-year-old man on Tuesday after the attack, although his identity has not yet been made public, nor his possible motive.
It emerged on Wednesday, however, that the suspect has a criminal record for domestic violence.
Read more: Far-right protestors attack left-wing politician in Spain
Pradales, who is standing to be regional leader in Sunday’s elections, was rushed to hospital with his face and eyes left red due to the spray, according to the Cadena SER radio network.
Sources from the Hospital de Cruces, which is located near to where the attack happened, later confirmed that he was discharged from the emergency room with vision problems in his left eye and the right side of his face also affected.
“We don’t know what this is about,” said the PNV president, Andoni Ortuza, after the attack. “But this kind of behaviour should make us reflect as a society as to whether all of this that we are living through, with this strain, tension, division and division, is the right path for a society such as that in the Basque Country. In the opinion of the PNV, this is not our path.”
News of the attack prompted messages of support from representatives of the other parties running in the upcoming elections in the Pais Vasco.
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sanchez of the Socialist Party (PSOE), also sent a message of support via X (formerly Twitter).
“There is no room for assaults in a democracy,” he wrote. “Never. Against anyone.”
Despite the attack, Pradales was able to participate in a televised debate last night ahead of Sunday’s elections.
“When I was walking to the car to go to the debate I was approached by a person I didn’t know, he mumbled something to me, I went closer to hear better and then he sprayed me with pepper spray in my left eye,” Pradales explained in comments reported by La Sexta.
“I slept very little. The night dragged on because I had to go to the police station to file a complaint…. It was a very unpleasant scare. I have a little pain that will accompany me these days, according to what the ophthalmologists have told me,” he added.
The attack comes just days after the former mayor of Ponferrada and current Socialist Party (PSOE) spokesperson in the northwestern Spanish city, Olegario Ramon, was violently attacked by a protestor who was reportedly linked to the far-right Vox party.
A video of the incident showed the attacker kicking Ramon, 53, as he left his party headquarters in the city, which is located in Leon province.