Demonstrators hurled rocks at a convoy carrying Argentina`s libertarian President Javier Mieli on Wednesday as his campaign caravan cut through Buenos Aires province, the cradle of the country`s left-leaning opposition movement. Milei came away unharmed, his spokesperson said, but the attack on his motorcade cut short the high-profile rally and ratcheted up tensions just days before consequential provincial elections in Buenos Aires, where more than a third of Argentines live.

The incident comes as a corruption scandal threatens to entangle Milei`s inner circle, including his sister and chief of staff, Karina Milei, who was riding Wednesday in the bed of the pickup truck alongside the president and key candidates from their governing Liberty Advances party when rocks, bottles and other objects started flying.

There was panic and confusion as cheering supporters and jeering protesters thronged Milei`s caravan in Lomas de Zamora, a sprawling low-slung city and historic stronghold of Peronism, the populist opposition movement focused on workers` rights that has dominated Argentine politics for the past eight decades.