Valencia (Spain) (AP): A crowd of angry survivors of Spain’s floods tossed mud and shouted insults at Spain’s King Felipe VI and government officials when they made their first visit to one of the hardest hit towns on Sunday.
Government officials accompanied the monarch who tried to talk to locals while others shouted at him in Paiporta, an outskirt of Valencia city that has been devastated.
Police had to step in with some officers on horseback to keep back the crowd of several dozens.
“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” the crowd shouted among other insults. Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect the royals and officials as protestors launched mud their way.
After being forced to seek protection, the king remained calm and made several efforts to speak to individual residents. One person appeared to have wept on his shoulder. He shook the hand of a man.
It was an unprecedented incident for a Royal House that takes great care to craft an image of a monarch who is liked by the nation.
But the public rage over for the haphazard management of the crisis came to a boil on Sunday.
Queen Letizia and regional Valencia President Carlo Mazón were also in the contingent. The queen also spoke to women with small glops of mud on her hands and arms.
Over 200 people have died from Tuesday’s floods and thousands have had their homes destroyed by the wall of water and mud. At least 60 of the dead were in Paiporta, an epicentre of suffering.
Indignation of the management of Spain’s worst natural disaster in living memory started after the initial shock wore off.
The floods had started filling Paiporta with crushing waves when the regional officials issued an alert to mobile phones that sounded two hours too late.
And more anger has been fuelled by the inability of officials to respond quickly to aftermath. Most of the cleanup of the layers and layers of mud and debris that has invaded countless homes has been done by residents and thousands of volunteers.
“We have lost everything!” someone shouted.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was scheduled to accompany the king on the visit. But it is not clear if Sánchez was there at the moment the contingent was pelted with mud.
Felipe insisted on trying to dialogue with people as he tried to continue his visit. He spoke to several people, patting two young mean on their backs and sharing a quick embrace, with mud stains on his black rain coat.
According to a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE near Felipe, one woman wept and told him she didn’t have food and diapers while another person said “don’t abandon us”.
But after approximately half an hour of tension, the monarchs got in officials cars and left with a mounted police escort.
