Hundreds of residents of Paiporta, feeling left to their own devices, violently attacked the king, the queen, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez as well as the head of the regional executive, visiting the scene of the floods.
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A crowd of angry victims threw mud and shouted insults at Spanish King Felipe VI during his first visit to one of the towns hardest hit by the deadly floods.
The King and Queen had arrived this morning in the Valencia region to visit Paiporta and Chiva.
Government officials and the region’s president accompanied the monarch who tried to speak to some residents while others shouted at him in Paiporta, a suburb of the city of Valencia that was devastated.
As the procession passed, several citizens began throwing objects and mud, brandishing shovels and sticks in the air, an action that the security forces did not expect, since they did not unable to immediately distance the royal couple and political leaders.
The Guardia Civil, along with police officers, improvised a cordon to contain the crowd of several, who repeatedly chanted “Assassins, assassins“.
Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect royals and officials, while protesters threw mud at them.
According to the daily El País, it was especially the head of government who attracted the wrathand the king “tried to calm things down by talking with some local residents“, who criticized the authorities for having delayed in coming to their aid.
Felipe VI shook hands with a man, reports The Associated Press. Someone appears to have cried on his shoulder.
According to information which has not yet been verified, one of the bodyguards was injured.
After this tense moment, the king left the area by car, which had been moved following mud throwing, as reported by the TVE channel.
Felipe VI had also planned to visit Chiva, another city seriously affected by flooding, but this visit was finally canceled.
With the discovery this Sunday of bodies in Letur (Albacete) and Pedralba (Valencia), the toll from the natural disaster which devastated eastern Spain now stands at 217 dead: 213 in Valencia, three in Castile -La Mancha and one in Andalusia.
Infrastructure has also collapsed and the damage is incalculable. The storm continues and the orange alert is maintained in the Balearic Islands.
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