Tens of thousands protest in Valencia against authorities' response to floods

Tens of thousands of people protested in Valencia on Saturday night against the Spanish authorities' response to last week's deadly flooding.

A group of protestors clashed with riot police in front of Valencia's city hall, where the protestors started their march to the seat of the regional government. Police used batons to beat them back.

Locals believe the response was mismanaged, with authorities reacting slowly and alerts warning about the dangers of the flood being sent out too late.

The protest, organised by social and civic groups, denounced the handling of the disaster and called for the resignation of the president of the regional government Carlos Mazón.

He is under immense pressure after his administration failed to issue flood alerts to citizens’ cellphones until hours after the flooding started on the night of Oct. 29.

Many marchers chanted “Mazón Resign!”, while others carried placards with messages like “You Killed Us!”

Earlier on Saturday, Mazón told a regional broadcaster that, "there will be time to hold officials accountable," but that now, "is time to keep cleaning our streets, helping people and rebuilding."

Helping hands

Thousands of volunteers have arrived in many of the hardest-hit areas of Valencia’s southern suburbs.

It took days for officials to mobilise the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers that the regional government asked central authorities to send in.

In Spain, regional governments are charged with handling civil protection and can ask the national government in Madrid, led by the Socialists, for extra resources.

Mazón has said that he "respected" the march, but claims he would have issued alerts earlier if he'd been notified of the gravity of the situation by the official water monitoring body.

He said the magnitude of the crisis was unforeseeable and that his administration didn't receive sufficient warnings from central authorities.

Mazón, of the conservative Popular Party, is also being criticised for what people perceive as the slow and chaotic response to the natural disaster. Thousands of volunteers were the first boots on the ground in many of the hardest hit areas on Valencia’s southern outskirts. It took days for officials to mobilise the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers that the regional government asked central authorities to send in.

In Spain, regional governments are charged with handling civil protection and can ask the national government in Madrid, led by the Socialists, for extra resources.

Mazón has defended his handling of the crisis saying that its magnitude was unforeseeable and that his administration didn’t receive sufficient warnings from central authorities.

But Spain’s weather agency issued a red alert, the highest level of warning, for bad weather as early as 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning as the disaster loomed.

Some communities were flooded by 6 p.m. It took until after 8 p.m. for Mazón’s administration to send out alerts to people’s cellphones.

The death toll stood at 220 on Saturday, with 212 reported in the eastern Valencia region alone.

Thousands more lost their homes and streets are still covered in mud and debris 11 days since the arrival of a tsunami-like wave following a record deluge.

It's not the first angry protest in the region - Spain's royals, Prime Minister Sánchez and a number of regional leaders had mud thrown at them by angry crowds when they visited the municipality of Paiporta last week.