Written by Graham Keeley
VALENCIA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of people protested in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Saturday over regional authorities' handling of floods that killed more than 220 people in one of Europe's worst natural disasters in decades.
In the latest demonstration about the floods, protesters filled the center of Valencia demanding the resignation of regional government leader Carlos Mazon and chanting “Murderers!”.
“Our hands are stained with mud, yours are bloody,” read another banner. Some protesters threw dirty boots outside the government building and others covered them with mud.
Residents in the affected areas blame Mazon for issuing the warning too late, at 8 pm on Oct. 29, after the water had already poured into many towns and villages.
The leader of Valencia said he would have sounded the alarm earlier if the authorities had been informed of the seriousness of the situation by the official water monitoring organization. Mazon did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.
“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.
Although the protest was peaceful, the police blamed the protesters for throwing stones at one point and objects thrown at the city council building caused minor damage.
After days of tornado warnings from the National Weather Service since Oct. 25 onwards, some municipalities and local bodies raised the alarm earlier than the regional government.
For example, the University of Valencia told its employees on October 28 not to come to work. Several city halls have suspended operations, closed public centers and told people to stay at home.
The weather service AEMET raised its threat level for heavy rains in the area to a red warning at 7:36 am on Oct. 29.
About 80 people are still missing in what is the deadliest flood in a single European country since floods in Portugal in 1967 killed around 500 people.
(Reporting by Graham Keeley, Horaci Garcia, Ana Beltran, Eva Manez and Michael Gore; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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