Almost two weeks after the flood disaster in Spain with more than 200 deaths, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Valencia. Their anger is directed against the regional government's crisis management.
Shouts of resignation and whistles echo across the square in front of Valencia's magnificent town hall. According to police figures there are said to be 130,000. Most people here want to send regional president Carlos Mazón of the conservative People's Party into the desert.
Maricarmen came with her husband Vicente and says: “There was a catastrophe and our politicians did not respond appropriately.” Over her shoulder, a dirty flag of the Region of Valencia, mud from her mother-in-law's neighborhood. Marie-Carmen blames the provincial capital Valencia and Spain's capital Madrid equally, saying they left the people in the disaster areas alone for a week.
criticism of Crisis management
She, her husband and their three children owe it entirely to volunteers that they had enough to eat last week. Silvia, around fifty with shoulder-length dark hair, holds up a sign that says: “Family at the center”. She and her friends are also here because of the regional government's crisis management.
They are climate change deniers. In addition to the resignation of the regional government, Silvia would like to see climate change finally taken seriously as a consequence of the catastrophe. Another demonstrator only wants one thing: that regional government leader Mazón resign because he did everything wrong. He should step back and run away.
Mutual Blaming
The much-maligned regional president of Valencia had previously stated in an interview that the right to demonstrate was anchored in the Spanish constitution and of course he accepted that. However, now was not the time for political debates about responsibilities, said Mazón, but rather it was about helping the people .
He is criticized because he and the regional crisis team are said to have reacted too late on the day of the devastating storm. The regional authorities only activated the mobile phone warning system when the water was already several meters deep in some towns.
For days, Spain's central government and those responsible in the autonomous region of Valencia have been blaming each other for the slow and sometimes chaotic start to disaster relief in many places.
Cleanup work still difficult
Meanwhile, the rescue and clean-up work continues tirelessly. In addition to more than 3,000 firefighters, around 8,500 military personnel and 10,000 officers from the National Police and Guardia Civil are on duty. Buildings are still inaccessible or difficult to access, and roads are covered with thick mud and blocked. The affected region is still far from normal.
