“You’re four days too late,” a young man told King Felipe as the king stood in the street in Paiporta on Sunday. “You’ve abandoned us,” he said, and asked why residents had been left alone to deal with the aftermath of the deadly floods.
Hundreds of people heckled the king and Queen Letizia, along with Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Valencia’s regional leader, Carlos Mazón. They threw mud and shouted “murderers.” The group was visiting one of the municipalities hit hardest by the floods.
Calls rang out for Sánchez and Mazón to resign. Bodyguards used umbrellas to shield the group from the mud, and Sánchez was swiftly evacuated. The Majorca Daily Bulletin reported that flood victims also threw a stone, and that security forces decided to take the prime minister away. The king, the queen and Mazón stayed, spending nearly an hour listening to residents.
“What were they expecting?” one furious local asked the newspaper El País. “People are very angry. Pedro Sánchez should have been here on day one with a shovel.”
The king stays
Felipe insisted on carrying on. At one point a man wept on his shoulder. The young man who confronted him also asked why the civil protection service, which answers to the regional government, sent its alert hours after the state weather agency warned conditions were getting worse. “They knew it, they knew it, and yet they did nothing,” he shouted. “It’s a disgrace.”
Hours later, in a video posted online, the king said: “One has to understand the anger and frustration of many people given all that they have gone through.” The royal palace said his plan to visit a second hard-hit town had been postponed.
A town in ruins
The death toll had climbed to 217. Paiporta’s mayor, Maribel Albalat, said 70 of the dead were from her town of 29,000 and that the number was expected to rise as crews reached underground garages. Parts of the town were still inaccessible. “It’s impossible because there are bodies, there are vehicles with bodies and these have to be removed,” she told Europa Press.
In Aldaia, Mayor Guillermo Luján said, “We have a town in ruins. We need to start over and I’m begging for help.” He said the town needed heavy machinery to clear vehicles and debris from the streets.
Sánchez said 10,000 troops and police would be deployed. He admitted the response so far fell short. “I’m aware that the response we’re mounting isn’t enough. I know that,” he said. “I know we have to do better and give it our all.”
Sources
- Mud and insults thrown as Spanish king and PM visit flood-hit town
- Spanish Primer Minister Pedro Sánchez, evacuated during his visit to Valencia
