For hours on Saturday, tens of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets of Valencia to express outrage at the regional government’s response to the deadliest floods in Spain’s modern history.
Protestors were demanding the resignation of regional president Carlos Mazón, accusing him of mismanagement which led to deadly toll taken by the disaster.
The floods, which struck the area in late October, have killed over 220 people and left nearly 80 missing.
“Stained with Mud, Stained with Blood”
About 130,000 people protested in the Valencia city center saying “Mazón resignation,” “You killed us,” carrying homemade slogans. They chanted, “our hands get mud-stained, you are stained with blood,” expressing their anger over the mismanagement.
During the demonstration, protesters tossed muddy boots outside the council building as a protest gesture against the incompetence of the regional government.
Demonstrators ran into clutches of riot police surrounding the city hall in Valencia; the officers used their batons to scatter.
Negligence and Delayed Response Amid Warnings
AEMET, the national weather agency of Spain, had issued red alerts regarding heavy rain early Monday morning by 7:30 a.m. on October 25. However, aallegedly Valencian government failed to take any urgent action.
Valencia’s authorities didn’t until hours after the flooding began send emergency alerts to residents’ mobile phones. This delay proved deadly for many, as floodwaters quickly engulfed homes and streets. According to reports, the local councillor responsible for emergency management admitted he was unaware of the mobile alert system.
Protestors lashing Carlos Mazón, the head of the conservative Popular Party in Valencia, after it was revealed that Mazón was dining at a restaurant with a journalist and did not attend an emergency coordination meeting until 7 p.m. local time, long after floodwaters had already wreaked havoc in several communities. Sources in the government defended Mazón, saying he was “constantly informed of events throughout the day”.
In response to the criticism, Mazón said the scale of the disaster was unforeseeable. He claimed his administration did not get adequate warnings from the central government in Madrid, which is supposed to provide additional resources during emergencies. “There will be time to hold officials accountable,” Mazón told regional broadcaster À Punt, “but now is the time to keep cleaning our streets, helping people, and rebuilding.”
Last week, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia experienced rage of people as they threw mud on the royals while they were paying a visit to the town of Paiporta, one of the region’s areas most severely affected.
The political backlash does not stop at Mazón’s government. Left-wing opposition parties, such as the Compromís alliance, complained that the regional government had been warned beforehand of possible severe flooding. As early as September 2023, Compromís presented a proposal for the prevention of floods in that area, which apparently the main party in the government had rejected.
Almost two weeks after the deluge, streets are still buried under mud and debris as thousands of homes are left destroyed by the floods. Thousands of volunteers are rushing to these areas for providing aid to the affected.
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