Spain’s prime minister was the real target of protesters who hurled clots of mud at the Spanish king and queen when they visited the centre of the nation’s deadliest natural disaster in living memory, a royal expert has said.
King Felipe VI was pelted with mud and two bodyguards of Queen Letizia had to be treated for injuries after being hit with objects during the tense visit to Valencia on Sunday.
The images shocked Spain where the royal household has sought to restore the reputation of an institution which suffered from a series of financial scandals during the reign of former king Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014.
Felipe travelled to the area under tight secrecy with his prime minister Pedro Sanchez and Valencian regional leader Carlos Mazon.
The fury exploded in the suburb of Paiporta, where at least 60 people have died in the flooding. The current death toll from Spain’s disaster stands at 217 but authorities have said this is likely to rise.
The national and regional governments have been accused of failing to warn people properly of the lethal flood last Tuesday, and then not responding quickly enough to help people who have lost everything.
Valencians still hunting for missing relatives say the stench of the dead permeates the worst-hit areas but claim authorities are still nowhere to be seen.
On Sunday, as trouble broke out, officials rushed Mr Sanchez and Mr Mazon from the scene.
“Get out! Get out!” and “Murderers!” the crowd shouted, among other insults. Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect the royals and other officials from showers of mud.
Police had to step in, some officers on horseback, to keep back the crowd of several dozen, some wielding shovels and poles.
Queen Letizia broke into tears after speaking to several people, including one woman who wept in her arms.
Later, one of the queen’s bodyguards had a bloody wound on his forehead and there was a hole in the back window of the prime minister’s official car.
Jose Antonio Zarzalejos, a royal author and journalist, said the anger of the crowd was not directed at the king but at the politicians.
“The error was for Sanchez and Mazon to go with the king on this visit. The anger was directed at them,” he told The Independent.
“The royals have been on many visits themselves to many places without any problem. But the king cannot go anywhere without the permission of the prime minister. It was Sanchez’s decision to go with the king despite the tension.”
Spanish transport minister Oscar Puente blamed far-right groups for trying to attack Sanchez, with protesters bludgeoning his car and smashing a back window.
“I understand that there is an investigation. People have been identified who belong to far-right groups who cause public order offences,” he told Spanish television on Monday.
Public rage over the haphazard management of the flooding disaster has been building.
“We feel fury. We were never properly warned about this flood and now we have not been given any help to find our loved ones,” Begoña Gómez, 50, a sales executive from Valencia, told The Independent.
“I have friends in Picanya, one of the worst areas. They say you can smell dead people there whose bodies are still lying in the mud. Nobody has told us how many people are missing.”
Six days after the floods struck, many people still do not have drinking water. Internet and mobile phone coverage remains patchy.
Most people only got power back on Saturday. Stores and supermarkets are in ruins and Paiporta, a town of about 30,000, still has many city blocks completely clogged with piles of rubbish, wrecked cars and mud caked everywhere.
While far from awakening the passion that the British hold for their royals, Felipe and Letizia’s public events are usually peaceful affairs in which they are greeted by crowds of fans.
The 56-year-old king took the throne when his father, Juan Carlos, abdicated in 2014 after he was tarnished by self-made financial and personal scandals.
Felipe immediately cut a new figure, renouncing his personal inheritance and increasing the financial transparency of his royal house.