With Madrid heading to regional elections on May 4, the far-right Vox party is again forcing itself onto the agenda — and not just at the ballot box. The snap poll was called by Isabel Díaz Ayuso of the conservative Partido Popular (PP), who had until last month governed the region in a coalition with the liberal-nationalist Ciudadanos, also reliant on Vox support. Yet even before the race officially began this past Sunday, Vox sought to get a head start. Its improbable choice of venue to kick off its campaign on April 7 was the Plaza del Nica in Vallecas, known locally as Red Square. Indeed, this suburb in the southeast of Madrid is solidly working-class and left-voting — the heart of the traditional red belt around the Spanish capital.

In the early evening, surrounded by heavy security and police lines, Vox leader Santiago Abascal announced the candidacy of his anti-feminist, homophobic, racist, and neoliberal formation. His address was attended not only by the party faithful but also by anti-fascist demonstrators, who saw Vox’s presence in the neighborhood as an insult. Shortly after starting to speak, Abascal reacted to the noise of the protests by breaking the police cordon, directing the Vox contingent to confront them.

According to Público journalists Pilar Araque and Amanda García, at this point the police charged the anti-fascist demonstrators and journalists. Vox’s own security detail did not hold back either: one of their targets being the photographer and Podemos executive member Dani Gago. Despite a plea issued earlier in the day from the Socialist Party, Unidas Podemos, and Más Madrid (a splinter group from Podemos) for the anti-Vox demonstrators not to fall into the trap of a provocation, bottles and stones were thrown between the two sides. The day ended with thirty-five injured and four arrests. Among the images that emerged was a chummy selfie of a policeman embracing a far-right activist recently issued with a restraining order for harassing the family of Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias.