King Felipe VI heckled upon his arrival in Paiporta, a town devastated by floods

Hundreds of residents of Paiporta, near Valencia (East), one of the cities most bereaved by the floods which left at least 217 dead in the south-east of the country, let their anger explode on Sunday November 3 , during a visit by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia.

The sovereigns were greeted with cries of« assassins ! » and by throwing mud. They tried to talk to the victims and calm their anger for about an hour before leaving. The rest of their visit, which was to continue in Chiva, another town near Valencia hit hard by the floods, was suspended.

The hostility was in fact directed against the socialist prime minister, Pedro Sanchez, and the conservative president of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazon. “We knew it and no one did anything to avoid it”declared a young man to the king, who insisted on staying to speak to the population despite the agitation, while the prime minister had withdrawn.

The victims accuse the authorities of having sent a telephone alert message to residents late on Tuesday, while the meteorological services had placed the region on red alert in the morning.

Pedro Sanchez said on Saturday that any possible negligence would be investigated further.