Furious locals pelted Spain’s PM Pedro Sanchez, King Felipe VI, and Queen Letizia on Sunday with mud and cries of “murderers!”, forcing officials to cut short their visit to the town worst hit by the floods which have killed more than 200.
The angry crowd in the town of Paiporta focused most of its wrath on Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and the head of the Valencia region, both of whom were whisked away by security.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were hit in the face and clothes with mud as they tried to calm the angry crowd, AFP journalists saw.
Broadcast on Spanish television, the extraordinary scenes underscored the depth of the anger in the country over the response to the nation’s worst such disaster in decades, with the toll ever rising and hopes for finding survivors ebbing five days on.
The king and queen arrived just after midday at a crisis center in Paiporta, ground zero for a disaster Sanchez called the second deadliest flood in Europe this century.
But more security guards were soon called to stand between the royals and the rest of the delegation and the angry crowd, whose ire seemed most directed at Sanchez and Valencia region head Carlos Mazon.
“I understand the social anger and of course, I’m here to receive it. This is my political and moral obligation,” Mazon later said in a post on X while calling the king’s conduct “exemplary”.
The king and queen spent an hour trying to calm tempers before leaving themselves, while Sanchez and the politicians quickly left, not before the rear window of the premier’s vehicle was broken.
Sanchez later said while he empathized with the “anguish and suffering” of the victims, he condemned “all forms of violence”.
Nearly all the flood deaths have been in the Valencia region, where Spain’s meteorological agency issued a fresh warning on Sunday for heavy downpours in the region.
Up to 90 liters per square meter (22 gallons per square yard) of water could fall in places in the province of Castellon and the area surrounding the city of Valencia, the agency forecasted.
It also sounded the alarm for torrential rain that may cause flooding in the southern province of Almeria, advising residents not to travel unless strictly necessary.
