Mud attack on the Spanish king: "Murderer"
Ellen Sundström,
Nelly Kronstrand
Updated 15.22 | Published 13.49
The King and Queen of Spain visited flood-hit Paiporta.
Then the crowd attacked with mud and sticks.
- Murderer, chanted angry residents.
The death toll from the floods in Spain has risen to 214, reports El País.
The authorities' handling of the devastating storm has received very harsh criticism in Spain.
Because the first weather warning for the disaster came only 12 hours before, among other things, Valencia's streets were filled with water - and masses of mud.
On Sunday morning, Spain's King Felipe, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez were in Paiporta.
But the visit was met with anger.
Mud on the face
Residents have attacked the royal couple and the prime minister by throwing mud, sticks and other objects at them.
- Murderers, murderers, the crowd chants.
Despite the attacks, King Felipe and Queen Letizia reportedly wanted to stay at the site to talk to the angry residents.
The king is said to have asked his bodyguards not to protect the couple with an umbrella. Videos show how they - despite their faces covered in mud - try to talk to angry people who are there.
"Fleeing like a rat"
The Spanish Civil Guard was forced to set up police cordons at the site. But in the end both the king, the queen and the prime minister were taken away from the scene by bodyguards.
Several of the royal couple's bodyguards have been injured in the attacks, reports El Mundo.
In social media, harsh tones prevail. The anger is directed above all at the Prime Minister - who chose to leave the place by car.
"He runs away like a rat", write several users.
The President: Understood
Queen Leticia tells the ABC that she understands the crowd's reaction to the visit.
- How can they not feel that way? How can they not be angry? she says.
The King, Queen and Prime Minister were in the Valencia area to visit hard-hit Paiporta and Chiva.
Even the president of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, states that he understands the people's anger.
"I understand and of course I will remain at the site to receive your anger. It is my political and moral obligation. The king's attitude this morning has been exemplary," he writes on X.
On Sunday, the royal couple and the prime minister had planned to also visit Chiva, which, like Paiporta, is an area that was hit hard by the storm.
But now the visit has been postponed, reports El Mundo.
The flood disaster is the deadliest disaster in modern Spanish history, as well as the deadliest flood in a European country since the 1970s when 209 people died in Romania.
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