Floods in Spain | Leaders faced with crowd anger

(Paiporta) The King and Queen of Spain, along with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, were forced on Sunday by an angry and threatening crowd to cut short their visit to the southeastern region of the country devastated by floods that leaves at least 217 dead.

Furthermore, the inhabitants of this region of Valencia, still traumatized by the tragedy that occurred Tuesday evening, were called at the end of the day by the authorities to return home due to the danger of further intense precipitation in the evening.

The call, launched by the police by megaphone, followed the issue by the National Meteorological Agency (AEMET) of a so-called “red” alert (extreme danger) concerning the southern coast of Valencia and the risk of strong precipitation (90 liters/m²or 9 cm) between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.

The visit of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, accompanied by the socialist Pedro Sánchez and the right-wing president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazón, to Paiporta, a town in the suburbs of Valencia among the most bereaved by the floods, almost turn into a riot.

“Assassins!” Assassins! », shouted the crowd at the arrival of the royal procession, especially against MM. Sánchez and Mazón. Some people threw mud and various objects at the procession, while insults were poured out against them, according to AFP journalists present on site.

In the midst of extreme tension, which required the intervention of mounted police to push back the most violent protesters, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia even received mud on their faces and on their clothes, a undoubtedly unprecedented episode in the history of the Spanish monarchy.

Visibly very moved, but impassive throughout this astonishing sequence, they nevertheless stayed for about an hour to talk to the residents and try to calm their anger before leaving. Their visit to another location was then canceled.

“Understanding anger”

In the evening, the sovereign affirmed, in a video posted on X, that it was necessary to “understand the anger and frustration of many people because of what they suffered”.

He also called to “give them hope and guarantee that the State in all its fullness is present” to help them.

MM. Sánchez and Mázon, who were showered with the worst insults, were quickly exfiltrated by the security services and taken to a safe place. National television (TVE) showed images of a mud-stained vehicle, which it presented as Mr. Sánchez’s official car, whose rear window was broken.

In a short statement a few hours later, Mr. Sánchez said he understood the “anguish and suffering” of the victims, but condemned “any type of violence”, describing these incidents as “absolutely marginal”.

Mr. Mazón and, to a lesser extent, Mr. Sánchez have been widely criticized since the floods.

The regional government of Valencia is accused of having sent a telephone alert message to residents very late on Tuesday, even though the meteorological services had placed the region on “red alert” in the morning.

As for Mr. Sánchez, the victims, who feel abandoned by the State, criticize him for the slow delivery of aid.

“It drives you crazy”

According to a latest report, at least 217 people died in these floods, namely 213 in the Valencia region alone, three in Castile-la-Mancha, where the lifeless body of a septuagenarian who went missing on Tuesday was discovered on Sunday morning. , and one in Andalusia.

Among the victims of these floods are also two Chinese nationals, according to the Chinese embassy in Madrid. Two others are missing.

The authorities know that the toll is set to rise. “There are still flooded ground floors or garages, basements and parking lots to be cleared and it is foreseeable that deceased people are in these spaces,” warned the Minister of Transport, Oscar Puente.

The scenes of near-riots which took place in Paiporta can be explained by the fact that on the ground, the population remains confronted with a dramatic situation, with infrastructure destroyed or out of service and piles of cars and debris on the road. .

“It feels like the end of the world,” Helena Danna Daniella, owner of a bar-restaurant in Chiva, still in shock five days after the bad weather, told AFP. People trapped ‘were asking for help and there was nothing we could do’ […] It drives you crazy. We look for answers and we don’t find them.”

As the rain began to fall at the end of the day in Valencia and the sky became increasingly cloudy, further north, the authorities of Catalonia decided as a precaution to restrict traffic and close schools in several localities in south of this region.