At Andalusia, a machete assault in a church killed one and critically wounded another. The far-right Vox party has launched a campaign against the Muslim community and illegal immigration only months before the Spanish municipal elections.
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| The murderer of sexton in Algeciras, Spain |
The murder of a sexton in a church by a machete assault sows confusion in Spain and unleashes the extreme right. "We will not remain silent. Prevention is preferable to lamentation! The Vox congressman in the Andalusian town of Algeciras seized the situation politically, starting assaults against Muslim immigration.
"Some open the doors, others finance them, and it is the people who suffer; we cannot allow Islam to expand on our country," says Santiago Abascal, the extremist formation's head, criticizing the left-wing government led by Pedro Sanchez's permissive immigration policy.
On Wednesday evening, a guy armed with a huge knife broke into two churches in Algeciras, near the southern tip of Andalusia, causing panic, fatally hitting a sexton and badly injuring a priest. The suspected killer, who apparently acted alone, was apprehended swiftly. The police characterize him as a 25-year-old Moroccan in an irregular status with no criminal record who has been deported since June 2022.
While the prosecution announced the launch of an inquiry to investigate if it has ties to extremist organizations, Vox's management had already reached their findings. "How many people are like him? asks Santiago Abascal, pointing the finger at the culpability of the policies "which open the doors to them and shower them with subsidies".
The ferocity of the attack shocked Spain because similar crimes had not occurred since the August 2017 attacks on the Ramblas in Barcelona, which killed 16 people. It is a source of concern throughout Andalusia, particularly in Algeciras, a cosmopolitan port city abutting Tangier in the Strait of Gibraltar. With the municipal elections coming up in May, everyone is afraid that the drama would be utilized to incite tensions in the environment of the pre-election campaign.
If the city has been relatively peaceful thus far, the balance is precarious, and all faith communities have expressed their dismay. "This guy does not reflect Islam or Muslim beliefs," said Dris Mohamed Amar, the Muslim community's local representative. He emphasizes the religious perspective, as did the parish priest of one of the two churches targeted by the machete assailant.
Even the Catholic hierarchy broke its normal quiet, with a delegate from the Spanish Episcopal Conference warning of the "risk of demonizing communities" and urging that terrorism not be associated with religions. However, Vox, which campaigns under the banner of the Christian "reconquista" against Islam, already has a ready-made campaign theme to reclaim ground against the center right in the upcoming elections.