November 10, 2024, 2:48 PM
November 10, 2024, 2:48 PM
Indignation and anger took over the streets of Valencia.
Tens of thousands of people protested in the Spanish city on Saturday to denounce the management of the authorities during the recent floods that caused more than 200 deaths and enormous damage to infrastructure.
The protesters demanded the resignation of Carlos Mazónpresident of the Valencian community.
And a few days ago, local media reported that when the emergency began the politician was at lunch with a journalist. For this reason, he did not arrive at a coordination meeting with the authorities until 7:00 p.m. (local time), when the rains had already greatly affected the area.
Government sources told the newspaper El País that this was “irrelevant” and that Mazón was constantly informed about the events.
As they walked through the city streets, protesters chanted “we are stained with mud, you are stained with blood”.
In addition to the hundreds of deaths caused by the torrential rains of Dana that hit Valencia and neighboring provinces on Tuesday, October 29, some 80 people remain missing.
In the protest, called by about 40 associations, the management of the president of the central government was also questioned Pedro Sanchez.
There were also demonstrations in Alicante, Elche and Madrid.
The management before, during and after the disaster has caused enormous indignation in Spain.
Above all, local authorities are singled out for issuing late flood alerts, so that the population He did not have time to prepare or protect himself in time of the rains.
The flooding in Valencia was caused by the Dana phenomenon, which occurs when warm, humid air meets cold air in the atmosphere and causes an unstable weather system.
Clashes
Near the end of the demonstrations, some attendees clashed with the police.
The images show the Valencia City Hall stained with mud. While the Reuters news agency reported that some protesters threw chairs and other objects at the building.
The mayor of the city, María José Cataláposted images of broken windows and a video that appeared to show a fire on social media.
“Vandalism is not the solution,” he commented.
“We want to show our indignation and anger at the mismanagement of this disaster that has affected so many people,” protester Anna Oliver told Reuters.
Last week, a group of people threw mud and other objects at the kings of Spain, as well as President Sánchez and Mazón himself during a visit to Paiporta, a town that has been identified as ground zero of the disaster, where more than 60 people.
As a result of the rains thousands of people have lost their homes and many of the streets are still covered in mud and debris.
Mazón, of the conservative Popular Party, has defended his actions. It says its officials did not receive information early enough from the central government and alleges that the magnitude of the disaster was not foreseeable.
In Spain, regional governments are responsible for managing disaster response and can request additional resources from the central government in Madrid.
The Spanish meteorological agency issued storm alerts for the region starting October 25but the Valencian authorities did not send this information to mobile phones until hours later before the floods began.
The local councilor in charge of emergencies later admitted that she did not know there was a system to send telephone alerts.
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