Alex Trelinski
TENS of thousands of people marched on Saturday in Valencia City to voice their anger at the authorities’ handling of the deadly floods.
Government sources put the turnout in the regional capital at 130,000 with four people arrested and 31 Policia Nacional officers injured.
Some protesters shouted ‘Murderers! Murderers!’ and some carried placards denouncing Valencia’s regional president Carlos Mazon as well as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
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The region was the worst hit by last month’s floods which killed at least 212 people in the area and left towns and cities swamped with mud.
Residents are angry about the lack of warning, some pointing out that official alerts for the floods landed on people’s phones when cars were already being washed away.
There is fury too over what critics say was the slow response of the authorities in the aftermath of the deadly flash floods that affected around 80 towns and cities in Valencia province.
The rally started in the square in front of city hall before a march to the Valencian parliament building.
Some protesters had harsh words for Carlos Mazon.
“Mazon’s management has been outrageous and he should resign,” said 75-year-old Julian Garcia.
“In the hours before, they should have warned people to be on the alert, not to take their children to school, not to take their cars to work.”
But while the regional government was too slow to ask for help from Madrid, the central government also shared some of the blame, said Garcia.
Some of the marchers chanted what has become a popular refrain in recent weeks: “Solo el pueblo salva el pueblo!” (Only the people save the people).
Ana de la Rosa, a 30-year-old archivist, blamed poor management and political infighting between the regional and national authorities.
“They got mixed up in political guerilla warfare when it wasn’t the time,” she said.
De la Rosa argued that it was not enough for the key officials to resign: there was a case to be made that their mismanagement amounted to manslaughter, she said.
