Thousands of people have taken part in a protest calling for officials to lose their jobs after brutal floods in Valencia claimed the lives of at least 219 citizens.
The demonstration was made up of tens of thousands of angered Spaniards who were protesting to demand the resignation of the regional president in charge of the emergency response to last week’s catastrophic floods.
Some protestors with flares clashed with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall, where the demonstrators started their march – but cops used batons to strike back, reports The Washington Post.
The demonstration was called by around 20 civic groups which are demanding the resignation of Valencian regional leader Carlos Mazon.
Mazon is under immense pressure after his administration failed to send out flood alerts to citizens’ mobile phones until hours after the flooding began on October 29.
Protesters clash with police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9
Demonstrators face off with police during Saturday’s demonstration
The floods in Valencia and neighboring provinces have caused at least 219 fatalities, as efforts continue to search for missing people, provide supplies, and care for the victims
People carry a banner during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia
A woman holds a Valencian regional flag covered in mud as thousands of people take part in a protest
Some protestors with flares clashed with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall, where the demonstrators started their march
Many demonstrators help up homemade signs reading: ‘You killed us!’ while others chanted ‘Mazon resign!’
The huge crowds, which gathered in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Valencia’s city centre, also waved banners stating: ‘Where were you then when I needed you so much?’ and ‘Your incompetence costs lives’.
Mazon, of the conservative Popular Party, is being criticised for what people are perceiving as a slow and chaotic response to the deadly natural disaster.
Spain’s AEMET state forecasting agency issued a red alert at 7.31am but later the same day, regional authorities told Valencians the storm would dissipate in a tweet that was later deleted.
Only at 8.15pm did officials finally send a red alert to residents’ mobiles – about two hours after the storm was at its peak, but this only came as many people returned from work leaving them stranded in their vehicles in the flooded roads.
Thousands of volunteers across hard-hit Valencia were the first boots on the ground as it took several days for officials to mobilise the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers the regional government asked central authorities to send in.
A demonstrator kneels in front of riot police during the protest organized by social and civic groups
Members of the media report as civil groups and unions protest against the management of the emergency response to the deadly floods in eastern Spain
People lay flowers in front of city hall during the demonstration in honour of the dead and missing
Protesters hold up a banner during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Mazon
Cops reportedly used batons to strike back against angered protestors
People hold a banner calling for the resignation of Valencia’s regional leader Carlos Mazon, as civil groups and unions protest against the management of the emergency response to the deadly floods in eastern Spain
Many demonstrators help up homemade signs reading: ‘You killed us!’ while others chanted ‘Mazon resign!’
Spain’s King Felipe (L) and Queen Letizia (c) speak to the regional president of Valencia, Carlos Mazon (R) upon their arrival at the emergency center in l’Eliana, Valencia, eastern Spain, on November 03
Mazon has claimed his regional government issued a series of warnings in the days before the fatal flash floods which left at least 219 dead and 93 officially missing.
In total, 36,605 people have been rescued, according to authorities.
Mazon has defended his handling of the crisis, claiming that its magnitude was unforeseeable and that his administration did not receive sufficient warnings from central authorities.
However, Spanish media has reported that Mazon did not join an emergency meeting on the day of the floods until two hours after the disaster had began as he ad been enjoying a long and leisurely lunch that ended at 6pm with a journalist on the day torrential rainfall struck Valencia.
Salome Pradas, the Valencian interior minister, said she did not know about the existence of the red alert system until she was informed about it by an official at 7pm after torrential rainfall had started.
The provincial president was pelted with mud last week by angry locals during a visit the flood-stricken town of Paiporta.
Mazon was accompanied by Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia, as well as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
Crowds of furious valencians shouted ‘murderers’ and other insults at the royals as well as government officials during the visit, with police having to step in, with some officers on horseback to keep back the crowd of several dozens who hurled mud and waved shovels and poles threateningly in the air.
Queen Letizia could be seen in footage and images with mud speckled over her face, while one of the bodyguards escorting the royals in Paiporta was hit by an object as he had a cut on his forehead, which caused blood to run down his face.
Demonstrators kick at the entrance to city hall as a flare is lit during the mass demonstration
The European nation’s worst floods in a generation have killed at least 219 people, left dozens missing and submerged entire towns in mud, particularly in the eastern Valencia region
Mazon has claimed his regional government issued a series of warnings in the days before the fatal flash floods which left at least 219 dead and 93 officially missing
Mazon, of the conservative Popular Party, is being criticised for what people are perceiving as a slow and chaotic response to the deadly natural disaster
A person holds a doll depicting Valencia’s Regional President Carlos Mazon as thousands of people take part in a protest to call for the resignation of Valencia’s regional government due to the management of the floods in Valencia
After being forced to seek protection, the king and queen remained calm and made several efforts to speak to individual residents, while local officials – who the angry crowd had reportedly directed their wrath at – fled.
The king and queen spent an hour trying to calm tempers before leaving themselves, while Sanchez and the head of the Valencia region, Carlos Mazon, quickly left, not before the rear window of the premier’s vehicle was broken.
‘I understand the social anger and of course, I’m here to receive it. This is my political and moral obligation,’ Mazon later said in a post on X, while calling the king’s conduct ‘exemplary’.
Villareal fans today paid tribute to the victims of Valencia’s floods during the team’s LaLiga match against Deportivo Alaves after it emerged that the provincial president lunched until 6pm on the day disaster struck.
Football supporters held up yellow banners with the slogan ‘forca Valencia’ at today’s match in the Estadio de la Ceramica stadium in Villarreal, while Villarreal and Deportivo Alaves players also paid tribute to the victims by sporting a black ribbon and the same slogan as their supporters on their football kit.
Spain has sent 17,000 troops and police to help the recovery operation.
The government has approved a £8.82billion relief package for families, business and local authorities. Valencian authorities are asking for an additional £25.7bilion in aid.