During a visit to a Spanish town, the royal family were met with angry residents, who hurled mud at them accusing officials of doing nothing to help the hundreds of people who died during a recent flooding.
The recent floods in eastern Spain, described as the worst in decades, were exacerbated by intense rainfall that overwhelmed infrastructure in the area, leaving communities isolated and in extreme danger.
With emergency alerts issued late on Tuesday, residents of Paiporta, Spain, were left unprepared for the flooding. More than 200 lives have been claimed in the region, with 62 deaths alone in Paiporta, the BBC reported.
When King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia arrived in Paiporta on Sunday, to express solidarity, the victims were outraged and devastated repeatedly shouting words like “murderer” and “shame,” as reported by the BBC.
“They left us to die. We’ve lost everything: our businesses, our homes, our dreams,” a resident told the BBC.
Protesters shouted accusations of negligence and demanded accountability, while some threw mud and other objects at them, including at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who was one of the first to be evacuated during the disaster.
“Please, the dead are still in the garages, the families are looking for their relatives and friends. Please come, we only ask for help … All we wanted was to be warned and we would have been saved,” local resident Nuria Chisber yelled, as reported by Reuters.
Despite attempts to interact with the residents, the atmosphere remained heightened and violent, with some locals attacking officials’ vehicles.
The current death toll has risen to 217, with many others missing all in the Valencia region on the Mediterranean coast.
Originally published by Latin Times
