Thousands protest in Valencia, Spain over handling of deadly floods | Flood News

About 80 people are still missing and people are angry with the government after the flood that killed the most people in decades.

Thousands of people protested in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia to complain about the authorities’ handling of one of Europe’s deadliest natural disasters in decades and demand accountability.

Large crowds gathered in the city center on Saturday night, some clashing with riot police in front of Valencia’s city hall. Police were filmed using batons to beat protesters who were marching towards the seat of the state government.

In Spain, regional governments are responsible for managing public protection and can request additional resources from the national government in Madrid.

The current regional leader is Carlos Mazon of the Popular Conservative Party, who is facing calls to step down after his administration failed to issue flood warnings to residents until the water filled people’s homes.

Mazon has defended his handling of the crisis, saying the scale of the crisis was unexpected and that the authorities in Madrid failed to inform his superiors sufficiently and in time.

But Spain’s weather agency issued a red alert, the highest level of warning, for severe weather at around 7:30am local time (06:30GMT) on Tuesday morning, more than 12 hours before Mazon officials finally sent alerts to people’s cellphones .

The regional leader is also facing heavy criticism for what people have seen as a slow and disorganized response to the natural disaster, which has killed at least 220 people since Saturday.

In many of the worst-hit areas on the southern outskirts of Valencia, volunteers were the first to help people, as the government took days to fully mobilize the thousands of police and soldiers sent to help those affected by the floods.

“He killed us!” some of the protestors wrote in their interviews on Saturday, others complained that Mazon had stepped down and others left muddy boots outside the council building to show their anger.

“We want to show our anger and our anger at the mishandling of this tragedy that has affected so many people,” said Anna Oliver, president of Accio Cultural del Pais Valenciano, one of about 30 groups that organized the protest, according to Reuters. news agency.

There were also protests in Valencia earlier this week, with people throwing mud and chanting “killers” when King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the suburb.

At least 212 deaths have been recorded in the eastern region of Valencia, and around 80 people are still believed to be missing in Europe’s deadliest flood since floods in Portugal in 1967 killed around 500.