Argentinian president Javier Milei was forced to cut short a campaign rally on Wednesday after protesters threw rocks, bottles and other objects at his motorcade in Buenos Aires province.
The libertarian leader was not injured, his spokesperson confirmed, but the violent scenes in Lomas de Zamora – a traditional stronghold of Argentina’s left-leaning Peronist movement – halted the rally and underscored rising tensions just days before provincial elections on 7 September.
Buenos Aires province, home to more than a third of the country’s population, will also be key in October’s national midterms.
Mr Milei had been riding in the back of an open pick-up truck with his sister and chief of staff, Karina Milei, and candidates from his Liberty Advances party when projectiles began striking the vehicle.
Witnesses said supporters and opponents clashed in the crowd, with protesters shouting “Out with Milei!”
Videos showed the truck speeding away as security agents shielded the president.
One supporter was hospitalised with rib injuries after scuffles, according to AFP.
The disruption comes as Mr Milei faces mounting political challenges. Audio recordings leaked last week allegedly capture Diego Spagnuolo, head of the nation’s disability agency and a close ally of the president, discussing bribery payments to Ms Milei and one of her advisers.
Mr Milei has dismissed the recordings as false and vowed legal action but the claims have intensified scrutiny of his administration. Mr Spagnuolo has since been dismissed.
Anger at the scandal was apparent at Wednesday’s rally. “You never want violence, but there is so much injustice and hypocrisy,” said Joel Domínguez, a protester who cited disability services cuts as his reason for demonstrating.
“I have a daughter with a disability and he hits us directly. There’s no reflection or self-criticism because he doesn’t care.”
Mr Milei later posted a photo on X flashing a thumbs up alongside his sister and lawmaker José Luis Espert and accused Peronist opponents of orchestrating the attack.
“Kirchnerism never again!” he said, referring to the political movement of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
Ms Fernández, Argentina’s president between 2007 and 2015, remains the most influential figure in Peronism despite being convicted of corruption in June and barred from holding office.
She is under house arrest and faces further trials.
Security minister Patricia Bullrich also blamed Ms Fernández’s movement for “putting the president and the people and families who went to accompany him at risk”.
The provincial elections will test Mr Milei’s standing halfway into his four-year term. The former TV pundit rose to power in 2023 promising to dismantle the bureaucracy and bring inflation under control.
His “chainsaw” economic shock programme has cut government spending, slashed subsidies and deregulated markets.
Government figures show monthly inflation slowed from 25 per cent in December 2023 to 1.9 per cent last month, delivering on Mr Milei’s central pledge. But unemployment and poverty have climbed in that period, eroding purchasing power and fuelling unrest.
Opposition lawmakers recently passed new spending measures that threaten Mr Milei’s budget surplus, further raising the stakes of the midterms.
Mr Milei has continued to use confrontation to rally his supporters. “The empty-headed nutters throwing rocks resorted to violence again,” he wrote on social media. “On September 7 and October 26, let’s say at the polls: Kirchnerism never again.”
In another post, he cast the vote as a choice between “civilisation or barbarity”.
