In Valencia, tens of thousands of demonstrators vent their anger after the floods

SPAIN – These images speak volumes about the anger of residents of the Valencia region. To the cries of« assassins »tens of thousands of people marched this Saturday, November 9 in the streets of Valencia to denounce the chaotic management by the political class of the floods which left at least 220 dead in the south-east of Spain last week. According to the government delegation in Valencia, the demonstration brought together “130,000 people”.

The demonstrators met at the end of the day on the large square in front of the Valencia town hall to walk the kilometer that separates it from the headquarters of the regional government. As can be seen in the images belowthis gave rise to impressive massive processions.

The demonstrators demanded in particular “resignation” of the region’s president Carlos Mazón (Popular Party, right), but socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was not spared from criticism either. The two men are accused by victims of having underestimated the risks and poorly coordinated relief after the floods of October 29, which devastated nearly 80 municipalities.

Clashes with the police in the evening

For Julián García, 73 years old, “Mazón’s management has been indecent and he should resign. The Valencian government is responsible and did not want to ask what it could ask from the central government, also a little responsible”estimates the retiree.

Ana de la Rosa, 30, regrets “political wars when it was not the time, because the citizens needed help and did not have it”. The archivist demands « justice » for what she describes as“manslaughter”.

Rallies also took place in several other Spanish cities, such as Madrid and Alicante.

In Valencia, some clashes broke out in the evening between demonstrators and the police. The grievances there focused on Carlos Mazón, who had been targeted on Sunday in Paiporta, like the head of government and the sovereigns Felipe VI and Letizia, with insults and throwing mud – unprecedented images illustrating the exasperation in devastated areas.

Figure of the Popular Party, Carlos Mazón, a 50-year-old lawyer, is accused of having been slow to react even though the Spanish Meteorological Agency (Aemet) had issued a red alert on the morning of October 29.

He is also accused of having been absent for several hours when it was already starting to rain and the emergency committee had met. Carlos Mazón defended himself by assuring that he participated in “a working lunch” in a Valencia restaurant with a journalist, according to Spanish media.

Dozens of people still wanted

Among the accusations also made by the victims, the fact that the entire population was only alerted via their mobile phones in the evening, when many areas were already submerged. The region’s main emergency manager, Salomé Pradas, admitted on Thursday that she was unaware of the existence of this alert system, before retracting her statement.

In Spain, a very decentralized country, disaster management is the responsibility of regional administrations, but the central government, responsible for issuing alerts via Aemet, can provide resources and even take a hand in extreme cases.

It is precisely this last point which motivates the criticism of the right-wing opposition, which accuses the head of the socialist government of having allowed the region to sink through political calculations instead of regaining control. Pedro Sánchez acted “in bad faith”criticized Miguel Tellado, the spokesperson for the PP in parliament.

Sources close to the government assure for their part that they want to define in due time the possible responsibilities of each person and the possible failures in the management of the disaster, while affirming that the government has done everything it could do within the current institutional framework. .

The authorities continued their search operations for the missing this Saturday, which are concentrated in Albufeira and the Valencia lagoon. Dozens of people are still wanted, according to the higher court of justice of the Valencia region.

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