Former Catalan MEP shot in face in Madrid

Aleix Vidal-Quadras, a former Member of the European Parliament and former leader of the People's Party in Catalonia, was shot in the face in Madrid on Thursday.

The events took place at around 1:30 pm, as police sources told the Catalan News Agency (ACN) at 40, Núñez de Balboa street. 

After making the first health checks and stabilizing him, SAMUR Madrid's health emergency services took him to the hospital. 

Vidal-Quadras, 78 years old, was conscious and the shot fired impacted his jaw, according to emergency services. 

Police are investigating the events.

Vidal-Quadras is the founding member of the far-right Vox party and has also served in the European Parliament between 1991 and 2014. During that time, he was also a vice-president of the chamber. 

During his time in politics, he has been a senator in the Spanish senate, as well as a member of the Catalan parliament. 

Police do not consider the attack driven by ideological reasons and rule it out of the line of investigation. However, as the Catalan News Agency (ACN) was able to confirm, one of the investigation lines is the different relations the founder of far-right Vox has with the Iran opposition.

Meanwhile, the Iran embassy in Spain tweeted that their region "has been and is one of the largest and oldest victims of terrorism," the text read as they have "17,000 victims of MKO cult's terrorist attacks." 

Aleix Vidal-Quadras will undergo surgery for the two jaw fractures, even though he is "stable and without any life-threatening risk," as the Gregorio Marañon University Hospital communications team said.