Tens of thousands of Spaniards marched in the eastern city of Valencia on Saturday, demanding the resignation of the regional president in charge of the emergency response to last week’s devastating floods, which left more than 200 people dead and missing.
A group of protesters clashed with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall, where protesters began marching to the headquarters of the regional government. Police used batons to beat them back.
Regional leader Carlos Mazon is under enormous pressure after his administration failed to issue flood alerts to residents’ mobile phones until hours after the flooding began on the night of October 29.
Many of the marchers held handmade placards and chanted “Mazon resigns!” Some held placards with messages such as “You killed us!” Upon arriving at the local government headquarters, some protesters threw mud at the building and left mud handprints on its facade.
Earlier on Saturday, Mazon told local broadcaster A Punto that “there will come a time to hold the authorities accountable,” but now “it’s time to keep cleaning the streets, keep helping people, keep rebuilding.” spoke.
He said he “respects” the march.
Mr Mazon, of the Conservative People’s Party, has also been criticized for what people perceive as a slow and disorganized response to natural disasters. Thousands of volunteers were among the first to hit the ground in many of the worst-hit areas in Valencia’s southern suburbs. It took several days for local governments to mobilize the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers they had requested from central authorities.
In Spain, local governments are in charge of civil protection and can request additional funding from the Socialist Party-led central government in Madrid.
Prime Minister Mazon has defended his response to the crisis, saying its scale was unpredictable and his government did not receive sufficient warning from central authorities.
However, Spain’s meteorological agency issued a red warning, the highest level, due to bad weather at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, as the disaster approached.
Some areas were flooded by 6 p.m., and it took until after 8 p.m. for the Mazon government to send alerts to people’s mobile phones.
Last weekend, Mazon was with Spain’s royal family and the Socialist Prime Minister when they visited the disaster area for the first time and were pelted with mud by angry residents.
Sara Sánchez Grillo joined the protests because she lost her brother-in-law, Candido Molina Pulgarin, 62. She said her body was found in a field of orange trees after being trapped under water at her home in the western Valencia town of Cheste.
She wanted Mazon to step down, but she also had harsh words for the country’s leader.
“What happened is shameful,” Sanchez said. “They knew the sky was falling and they didn’t warn anyone. They didn’t evacuate people. We want them to resign!”
“The central government should have taken the initiative. They should have sent the army sooner. The king should have let them send it. Why do we need him as a symbolic figure? ? He is worthless. The people are lonely. They have abandoned us.”
The death toll rose to 220 on Saturday, with 212 dead in the Valencia region of the central east, where a search for bodies continues.
Thousands more people have been left homeless and roads are still covered in mud and debris, 11 days after the tsunami-like waves of record flooding.
