PAIPORTA (Spain) – Hundreds of residents of a Valencia suburb particularly devastated by last week’s deadly floods protested on Sunday during a visit by Spanish King Felipe, Queen Letizia, and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, with some throwing mud at them.
The crowd expressed their frustration over what residents saw as delayed warnings from authorities about the flooding and a sluggish response from emergency services when the disaster occurred.
Meanwhile, the central government has said it is the responsibility of regional authorities to issue alerts to the public. In response, the Valencia authorities claimed they acted to the best of their ability based on the information they had.
PM Sanchez said on Saturday that any potential negligence would be investigated later and called for political unity in the face of the tragedy.
Valencia’s regional leader, Carlos Mazon, posted on X: “I understand the public anger, and of course I will stay to receive it. It is my political and moral obligation.”
The death toll from the country’s worst flash floods in modern history edged higher to 217 on Sunday—almost all in the Valencia region and over 60 of them in Paiporta alone.
