Pablo Marcal, a 37-year-old personal development influencer who rails against the "woke" agenda, suffered a fracture at the bottom of his rib cage. After experiencing major breathing difficulties, he was immediately transported to the hospital in an ambulance and given respiratory care.
Marcal was released from the hospital on Monday morning. The opponent who attacked him was Jose Luiz Datena, a former TV presenter who has been inundated with sex abuse allegations, as reported by the Associated Press.
The incident occurred when Marcal confronted Datena about the allegations on the debate stage. Datena had reportedly threatened Marcal with physical violence beforehand, saying that he wanted "to slap" his rival for discussing the sexual abuse allegations against him.
Marcal told Datena, "You're not even man enough to do this."
Datena, who has denied the allegations, took that comment as a challenge and approached Marcal's podium. He raised a metal chair above Marcal's head and then slammed it into the opponent's side. The TV Cultura debate abruptly switched to commercials but returned later Sunday night without Marcal on the stage.
In a statement obtained by the AP, the Syrian-Lebanese hospital said Monday that Marcal suffered "trauma to the right chest region and right wrist, without major associated complications."
In a video posted on social media, a physician can be seen conversing with Marcal in the hospital room, informing the candidate that he has "a little line of a fracture." Marcal characterized the incident on social media as an "attempted homicide" and compared it to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump earlier this year, as well as the attack on former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro in the lead-up to the 2018 presidential election.
Marcal has leveraged his fiery rhetoric and internet influence to establish a burgeoning political movement. In recent months, he has significantly increased his polling numbers and is currently in a tie with the incumbent, Ricardo Nunes, and the leftist lawmaker, Guilherme Boulos. The mayoral election in Brazil's largest city has garnered even more attention as a result.
