Spanish neofascist murder attempt on prime minister

This 8 October 2018 video from La Vanguardia daily in Spain says about itself (translated):

The Mossos d’Esquadra [Catalonia region autonomous police] detained last September in Terrassa a lone wolf who wanted to assassinate [social democrat Prime Minister] Pedro Sánchez for the exhumation of the remains of [dictator Francisco] Franco from the Valley of the Fallen, which has not yet been carried out.

Manuel Murillo Sánchez was a security guard with a gun license and a 63-year-old expert sniper. This has been published exclusively by the Público newspaper and has been confirmed by La Vanguardia from police sources.

He had been around for years on the extreme right, but he had no criminal record, so it was difficult to control him. According to the newspaper, he was arrested after someone sounded the alarm. He had asked for help in a WhatsApp group to murder the prime minister. Specifically, he asked for information about the prime minister’s location and his agenda.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

‘Outstanding sniper’ planned an attack on Spanish Prime Minister Sánchez

In Spain, a 63-year-old man was arrested who, according to the justice department, intended to attack [social democrat] Prime Minister Sánchez. That arrest happened already in September, but reports about it are only coming out now. According to Spanish media, the man wanted to repay the government’s decision to rebury former dictator Franco.

Against this decision there a strong protests by extreme right-wing supporters of the general. The suspect, Manuel Murillo Sánchez, a Catalan security guard with a gun license, was one of them. Because he has no criminal record, it was difficult to keep an eye on him. “He is described as a lone wolf, who was very motivated to kill Prime Minister Sánchez”, says correspondent Rop Zoutberg.

The guard’s plans came to light when he asked for advice in a WhatsApp group. He asked group members if they could look up for him what the Prime Minister’s agenda was because he could not handle the Internet well enough. He did not care that he could be caught. “I am willing to sacrifice myself for Spain”, he wrote.

“He talked about Sánchez as ‘the red motherfucker who has to be killed’, and that kind of messages never stopped and then someone from that group went to the police”, says Zoutberg.

According to daily La Vanguardia, Manuel Murillo Sánchez was arrested by the Mossos, the Catalan regional police, where there are some anti-Franco ideas. I don’t know if the Spanish national police which includes Franco sympathizers would have arrested the would-be murderer.

Armory

When officers searched the man’s house, they ran into a weapons arsenal. He possessed 16 weapons, including machine guns and sniper rifles. He had adjusted some of them himself. He turned out to be active at a shooting club and was known as an excellent sniper. Zoutberg: “You can wonder how far he was with his plans for the attack, but one thing is clear: he could really have done it.”

The man is in pre-trial detention. He is not prosecuted for terrorism,

No, in order to have been prosecuted for terrorism, he should have been black; or his name should have been not Manuel Murillo Sánchez, but Ali ben Muhammad or something.

but for conspiracy, the preparation of a hate crime and the possession and use of illegal weapons.