Throwing stones and mud. Insults. “A-ssa-ssins! A-ssa-ssins!” This is the welcome given to the official delegation by residents of Paiporta, the epicenter of the floods in the Valencia region. At the heart of this scene of chaos, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia who accompany the two men targeted by popular vindictiveness, Pedro Sanchez, president of the government, and Carlos Mazon, president of the Valencian Generalitat. The image is striking. Letizia, her face covered in mud. Her husband's clothes stained.
While Pedro Sanchez is exfiltrated by his security service after being beaten with a stick, the Spanish sovereigns remain behind. Having followed the situation closely, from the first day of the disaster, the royal couple had to wait until their arrival would not hinder the implementation of relief efforts. Too late ? Too early? Felipe and Letizia face each other, under a hail of projectiles from desperate residents. The Queen told the daily ABC: “How can they not be angry?”
The blame does not prevent Felipe VI from stopping, as much as he can, each time he is questioned. “You knew! You knew and no one did anything to prevent it,” a young person then reproaches him, accusing the authorities of having sent alerts to the population late when the meteorological services had placed the region on red alert from the start. morning of October 29, the date Dana swept across the country. Without ever taking his eyes off the teenager, the king places his hand on his shoulder. And responds to him by showing understanding and compassion. “You don’t lack anything!” shouts a woman as she passes. Without shying away from the victims, the queen listens to the distress of her family. Her face smeared with mud, she does not hesitate for a moment to take a crying woman in her arms, to start again with another… then another. Behind her, her bodyguard is increasing her vigilance.
His forehead is bloody but at no time did the royal couple decide to run away, as security instructions would have required. “It’s not you who are being targeted,” says a young man to Queen Letizia, who bursts into tears. The resident refers to the procrastination of the central and regional governments. Even more so with the late arrival of contingents of soldiers and police. As the royal couple leaves the town of Paiporta and the death toll rises to 217, a new alert of torrential rains in the Valencia region appears on cell phones…
