Protesters hurled mud at Spain’s king, queen and prime minister as they visited a town ravaged by deadly floods this month, with some going as far as calling them “murderers.”
King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez were on Sunday visiting Paiporta, where a creek overflowed with such might last week that it swept away cars, trapped residents, and coated streets in thick mud and debris.
Footage showed angry crowds lining the streets, throwing objects and booing as the three toured the town, while security officials used their hands and umbrellas to shield the officials.
More than 200 people died in the flooding in Valencia province in eastern Spain. It was the country’s worst natural disaster in recent history. As of Monday, workers are continuing efforts to locate the missing, and there are fears the death toll could rise.
Two of the king’s bodyguards were treated for injuries sustained on Sunday, the Times of London reported from Paiporta. The queen was photographed crying. Sánchez was taken back to his car, while the king remained at the scene, the Times reported.
The floods prompted anger and questions over whether the government failed to sufficiently alert people to the severe weather and danger, and whether it contributed to the death toll. Critics say that if communication alerts were sent out sooner, lives may have been saved.
Twelve hours passed between when Spain’s State Meteorology Agency issued a red alert and when local government officials sent alerts to people’s phones. One man told elDiario.es that he was up to his neck in floodwater “and swallowing mud” by the time he heard the civil protection alert.
Footage from the visit showed the queen, visibly shaken and holding her head, with mud splattered on her face and on the sleeve of her jacket.
El País reported that during the visit to Paiporta, where an estimated 70 residents died in the floods, the queen was sprayed with water as someone shouted: “You don’t lack water! You don’t lack anything!”
British royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams described the scenes as “shocking” and said the chaos “was clearly a response from a desperate crowd who felt they had been let down and ignored by all authority.”
The attacks against them were “especially surprising, as indignities of this sort are not usually suffered by a royal family whose role is invariably seen as unifying,” Fitzwilliams said.
The Spanish monarchy has been working to reassert itself following a string of personal and financial scandals involving the former king and Felipe’s father, Juan Carlos. The scandals “badly tarnished” the image of Spain’s monarchy until Juan Carlos’s abdication, Fitzwilliams said.
The task of restoring trust in the institution has fallen to Felipe and Letizia, Fitzwilliams said, adding that the country has been “politically unstable in the king’s first decade,” which he said led to increased support for the monarchy.
On Sunday, some accused the royals of being performative in the face of tragedy, with protesters telling the Times and the Guardian that the royal visit to Paiporta came too late, and that the appearance wasn’t enough to help with the huge rescue and cleanup efforts.
After his visit to Paiporta, Felipe at a Sunday meeting told emergency responders and regional and government officials: “One has to understand the anger and frustration of many people given all that they have gone through, as well as the difficulty in understanding how all the mechanisms work when it comes to the emergency operations.”
Many in the areas impacted by the flooding and beyond are calling for Sánchez and Carlos Mazón, Valencia’s regional leader, to resign.
Valencia’s conservative regional government and the socialist national government are exchanging blame for responsibility.
Mazón has defended the response to the flooding, saying that “all our supervisors followed the standard protocol” and were coordinating with national officials. Spain’s Interior Ministry said the wording of text message alerts and decisions about when to send them rests with the regional government.
The royal couple had been slated to visit Chiva, another badly hit area of Valencia, on Sunday, but their trip was postponed. The Royal Household said in a statement that the decision was “by joint agreement of the state, regional and Royal Household authorities,” El País reported.