Thousands of Argentinians have taken to the streets throughout Argentina to protest the increasing political violence following the latest botched assassination attempt against Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner that took place on September 2nd.

Pope Francis and political leaders around the world denounced the attack, while the Argentinian people flooded cities across the country in solidarity with a political leader who, similarly to Juan and Evita Perón, dominates Argentina’s political scene.

According to camera evidence and investigators, just after 9 pm on September 2nd, as Kirchner exited her vehicle into a big gathering outside her home, a guy approached and brandished a revolver inches from her face. A clicking sound heard on CCTV footage indicates that the guy then attempted to pull the trigger. Kirchner ducked, and the guy was dragged away.

Fernando Andres Sabag Montiel, 35, a Brazilian man living in Argentina, was arrested by the federal police in connection with the assassination attempt, Buenos Aires police reported.

According to the Spanish news outlet El Pais, Montiel sported on his elbow a black sun symbol, called Schwarze Sonne in German; a Nazi emblem that has recently been adopted by neo-Nazis.

El video del arma contra @CFKArgentina pic.twitter.com/8j1xpMnPoe

— Lautaro Maislin (@LautaroMaislin) September 2, 2022

President Alberto Fernández described the attack as the gravest since Argentina's return to democracy in 1983.

As of yet, police have not speculated on a motive against a backdrop of political unrest and economic turmoil.

Buenos Aires-born Pope Francis said that “I pray that social harmony and respect for democratic values will prevail in beloved Argentina, against all kinds of violence and aggression.”

On Friday, the central Avenida de Mayo in Buenos Aires was bursting with protesters waving light blue and white Argentine flags and huge banners representing the country’s powerful social movements.

Brass bands and drums echoed in the streets as protesters chanted:

“If they touch Cristina, what mayhem we’re going to cause!”

A group of demonstrators gravely damaged the vice president's senate office in March, as opposition groups frequently shouted "Death to Cristina" whilst marching.

After being accused of corruption last week, opposition lawmaker Francisco Sánchez, a supporter of right-wing extremist Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, sparked uproar when he called for Kirchner to be executed following allegations of corruption.

“These kind of crimes should be considered treason. They deserve the death sentence,” Sanchez tweeted on 22 August.

The incident has also shocked the neighboring country of Brazil, where Bolsonaro will face his fierce challenger, the leftist former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, in only one month's time.

Tensions have significantly increased in recent weeks as a result of Bolsonaro's legendary 2018 appeal for supporters to "machine-gun" their leftist opponents.

Supporters of Bolsonaro have twice attacked Lula, murdering a high-ranking Worker's party official and hurling feces, and a crude explosive device at the former president's supporters.

Lula issued a warning on Friday, saying that politicians everywhere should be ready to deal with an environment of violence fostered by populist figures.

“I think all of us who are politicians have to be aware of the violence provoked by those who do not know how to live democratically,” he said.

Kirchner, 69, served as president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015 and as the first lady from 2003 to 2007 during the presidency of her husband, Néstor Kirchner. Their political influence was so great in Argentina that it gave birth to Kirchnerism, a left-wing movement that is now one of the country's most significant political forces.

Read more: A gun is worth a thousand Nazi words