According to AFP reporters, Argentine President Javier Milei was pelted with stones on Wednesday while campaigning near the capital, Buenos Aires. The attack was carried out by demonstrators protesting a corruption scandal.
Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni wrote on X that Milei was quickly taken from the scene by his security detail and did not sustain any injuries after his motorcade was attacked.
Journalists from AFP confirmed that Milei, who is campaigning for the October mid-term elections, was riding in the back of a pickup truck and greeting supporters in the city of Lomas de Zamora, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Buenos Aires. It was at this moment that protestors began throwing plants, rocks, and bottles at his vehicle.
The vehicle carrying the president, his sister Karina Milei, and other officials, hastily departed the area. Following the incident, clashes broke out between the libertarian leader’s supporters and opponents. One female Milei supporter sustained rib injuries and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The skirmishes occurred amid a major corruption scandal in Argentina. The scandal involves alleged misuse of funds at the public disability agency, with claims implicating Karina Milei, the president’s close aide and presidential secretary.
Minutes before the incident, President Milei had addressed the scandal, which erupted after audio recordings were leaked by the former head of the disability agency, Diego Spagnuolo. In the recordings, Spagnuolo claimed that Karina Milei had taken funds intended for people with disabilities. “Everything (the agency head) says is a lie,” President Milei stated.
