Santiago Abascal, spokesman for Vox, during rally in Plaza de Colón, Madrid, Spain. Lito Lizana/Press Association. All rights reserved.
The relationship between VOX ̶ headed by its leader Santiago Abascal ̶ and the Muslim community has never been easy. Back in 2015 when VOX (founded at the end of December 2013) was still a very minoritarian political force relatively unknown in Spain, Abascal and the leader of the Islamic Commission of Spain at that moment, Natalia Andújar, engaged in a fierce verbal confrontation. The origin of the battle was an article that the head of VOX had published in the online newspaper Libertad Digital entitled “Caballo de Troya” (Trojan Horse) in which he warned about the potential dangers of allowing Muslim students to be taught Islam in primary school as the then government allowed. Abascal argued that they were according Islam “a dangerous privilege”. Predictably, Andújar replied calling him “a xenophobe as well as an Islamophobe promoting anti-democratic values”. Abascal responded, reiterating his warning.
