ANO leader Andrej Babis has cancelled his Tuesday election campaign programme after an attack at an election rally in Frydek-Mistek yesterday, where a member of the public hit him on the head with a crutch. Babis was taken to hospital for examination.
According to police spokeswoman Sona Stetinska, the incident happened after 4pm yesterday, when a senior citizen struck Babis on the head with a metallic forearm crutch. Police arrested the perpetrator immediately after the attack. The crime was preliminarily classified as rioting.
The incident occurred at Babis’s meeting with citizens in Dobra near Frydek-Mistek in the Moravia-Silesia Region, where he is running as ANO’s lead candidate.
“Police officers…immediately responded to the incident and detained the man as he was leaving. The investigators are carrying out procedural steps, questioning witnesses and…evaluating all information related to this matter,” Stetinska said.
The case is being dealt with by Frydek-Mistek police.
“In addition to Andrej Babis, another woman was treated and the extent of her injuries will also be investigated,” said the police. “We have preliminarily established the legal qualification as the crime of rioting, however, we do not rule out an extension [of the qualification].”
ANO MP Ales Juchelka, who was with Babis at the rally, told CTK that Babis was hit several times on the head with a crutch.
“Of course, he then took cover, and then there was such a commotion. They took him to a car and then to hospital. He was in the emergency room in Frydek-Mistek, he had a CT scan, he has probably already left,” Juchelka said.
“Thank you all for your support, I hope I will be OK,” wrote Babis. “Tomorrow I will wait for further assessment of the results of the examination, but the doctors have advised me to rest, so unfortunately I have to cancel at least tomorrow’s programme in the Olomouc Region.”
Babis is ANO’s number one candidate in the Moravia-Silesia Region in the 3-4 October parliamentary elections, with Juchelka, the lower house’s deputy speaker and ANO shadow labour minister, second on the list. ANO is the clear election favourite.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) condemned the attack. Speaking at his own party’s rally in Tabor, South Bohemia, Fiala rejected aggression and violence in politics. The attack on Babis was also condemned by other government and opposition politicians.
However, representatives of ANO claimed the attack was a direct result of the government coalition’s election campaign.
ANO vice chair and parliamentary group leader Alena Schillerova wrote that the attack on Babis was “the result of the hatred spread by the ruling parties” on billboards and social networks. “This is a direct result of their campaign based on fear and division,” she wrote on social media.
ANO first vice-chair Karel Havlicek said the attack was a direct result of the “hate campaign” being waged by the Spolu coalition (Civic Democrats, Christian Democrats and TOP 09), the Pirates and, in recent days, the Mayors and Independents (STAN).
“This time it ended with a blow to the head, next time it could be worse. They have based their campaign on fear-mongering and hatred, they are making God knows what out of Andrej Babis. We warned that it could end badly, and it did,” Havlicek said.
Fiala told the meeting with voters in Tabor yesterday that violence does not belong in politics. He said he was ready to clash with Babis in televised debates, and to raise arguments against his policies, which he considers dangerous. The Prime Minister wished Babis a speedy recovery and urged people to treat each other with respect and not to resort to violence.
Interior Minister and STAN leader Vit Rakusan also condemned the attack, writing on social media that violence in any form is unacceptable and will not solve anything.
“Let us seek a better future for our country in clashes of arguments and ideas, not in physical violence,” Rakusan wrote, adding that he hoped Babis’s injuries were not serious. “I believe the police will quickly investigate the incident,” Rakusan said.
Zdenek Hrib, leader of the opposition Pirates, who were part of Fiala’s government until late last year, said it was unacceptable to show disapproval through violence. On social media, he wrote that he hoped Babis had not been seriously injured.
Today, ANO had scheduled campaign appearances for Babis with citizens in the Prerov and Prostejov districts of the neighbouring Olomouc Region. On Wednesday and Thursday, Babis is scheduled to present his election manifesto elsewhere in Moravia-Silesia.
