Tens of thousands march in Spain over handling of deadly floods / Photo: © AFP
Tens of thousands march in Spain over handling of deadly floods
Tens of thousands of people marched Saturday in Valencia and other Spanish cities to voice their anger at the authorities' handling of deadly floods.
In Valencia, some protesters shouted "Murderers! Murderers!" and some carried placards denouncing Valencia's regional president as well as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
The region was the worst hit by last months' floods, the most serious in decades, which killed at least 220 people and left towns and cities swamped with mud.
Local people are furious about the lack of warnings.
Some have pointed out that the official alerts for the floods landed on people's phones when cars were already being washed away.
There is anger too over what critics say was the slow response of the authorities in the aftermath of the deadly flash floods that affected around 80 towns and cities in the region.
As the march in Valencia headed to the city's regional headquarters, some protesters had harsh words for regional president Carlos Mazon.
Police and protesters faced off in a tense atmosphere, with some scuffles breaking out.
"Mazon's management has been outrageous and he should resign," 75-year-old Julian Garcia told AFP.
"In the hours before, they should have warned people to be on the alert, not to take their children to school, not to take their cars to work," he added.
- 'Shameful' -
Of the 220 deaths confirmed so far, 212 of them were in the Valencia region. The clean-up operations in some villages -- and the search for bodies of dozens of missing people -- is still going on.
Ana de la Rosa, a 30-year-old archivist, blamed poor management and political in-fighting between the regional and national authorities.
"They got mixed up in political guerilla warfare when it wasn't the time," she said.
She argued that it was not enough for the key officials to resign: there was a case to be made that their mismanagement amounted to manslaughter, she said.
Another demonstrator, 50-year-old Trini Orduna, said that both the regional and national authorities should take their share of the blame, describing the country's political class as "shameful".
Even so, regional health authorities have asked local councils to apply measures to control and prevent the proliferation of mosquitoes and other insects capable of spreading diseases.
(P.Vasilyevsky--DTZ)
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