SEVILLE, Spain – A remarkable scene unfolded last weekend in Paiporta, a city of about 25,000 inhabitants and a suburb of the metropolitan city of Valencia on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast. Citizens approached the royal couple, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as they traveled past the damage the storms of the past week which resulted in more than 200 deaths.
One woman approached the Queen, who looked distressed as protests were heard in the background as another person uploaded the scene on social media. “Letizia, Doña Letizia,” the woman said to the queen, using the Spanish word of respect for the monarch, who had mud on her coat. She held the woman’s hands.
Another man approached the royal couple and said to the king: “This government must go. Felipe, there’s dead people out there, dude.’
Two days later, that scene still reverberates throughout Spain; ordinary citizens are typically not allowed to get that close to the royal couple, let alone speak to them so informally. The exchange has become symbolic of public anger over the government’s response to the deadly storms. That public outrage has grown in the cities devastated by the storm. But last Sunday, public outrage spilled over into public opinion.
The storm has now become the country’s worst natural disaster in recent memory. At least 215 deaths have been reported. An unknown number of people are still missing as rescuers work intensively to gain access to all affected locations.
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Queen Letizia of Spain talks to a person as angry residents bustle during the Spanish royal couple’s visit to Paiporta, in the Valencia region, eastern Spain, on November 3, 2024, in the wake of devastating deadly floods.
Who was behind the protests on Sunday?
During the visit of the monarchs to Paiporta, accompanied by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Carlos Mazón, the president of the autonomous government of the Valencian region, arguments broke out. Some people threw mud at the government contingent, shouted at them, cursed them, called them “murderers” and urged them to leave the city immediately. Objects were also thrown and a scene of chaos ensued.
It is still unclear what happened that morning. Next media reports expose what could have been an organized attempt by the far right to sabotage the officials’ visit on Sunday. Online, far-right groups have done so claimed that they could hit Sánchez in the back and “destroy his car.” Some of those claims have been debunkedbut on Monday the Spanish Minister of the Interior confirmed that at least one object struck Sánchez on Sunday. Observers say that what happened that day indicates an escalation of the political polarization taking place in Spain, where the attendance of the far-right Vox party in recent years has shaken up the two-party system.
On Sunday, after Sánchez was taken away by his security guard, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia stayed behind to speak to frustrated citizens. The images from that scene will linger in the memories of Spaniards, and perhaps they will has become an iconic moment for the monarchs, who have struggled to shake off both the unpopular legacy of former King Juan Carlos I, Felipe’s father, and their own reputation as distant representatives of a non-democratic institution.
But despite what happened on Sunday, and even though it remains unclear how much of the escalation was the result of far-right groups, one thing seems clear: people in the storm-ravaged region are saddened, and sometimes angry.
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King Felipe VI of Spain is hugged by a man as other angry residents heckled him during his visit to Paiporta, in the Valencia region, eastern Spain, on November 3, 2024, in the aftermath of devastating deadly floods.
The genuine growing anger of survivors
Javier Ruiz Martínez is one reporter for the Spanish radio network Cadena SER. He was there to cover the disaster. Last Sunday he sent me a series of audio messages while standing under an umbrella in the streets of Alfafar. It rained again in Valencia.
Images of cars piled on top of each other, a bridge being swept away by a flooding river and cities completely covered in mud have been spread around the world. Videos from citizens show similar scenes of violent rivers taking over the streets, in what looks more like a tsunami than what we usually think of as flooding.
I ask Javier what he saw that is not visible in the images. He talks about the possessions that people have lost. Sometimes they are seemingly small objects: a collection of comic books kept since childhood, study notes from college carefully preserved for decades. And photos.
But what stands out most, says Javier, is the smell.
“The rotten smells that overwhelm everyone who comes here. The feeling that what is to come might be even worse than what has already happened.”
Javier says watching all this is also taking its toll. He tries to remain objective, but says he hugs the survivors after interviewing them. “That sadness, that first feeling of sadness, now turns into anger.”
Javier says what happened to the king and queen on Sunday is not entirely surprising: “I do think there is a general sense of anger among the survivors.”
Amaia Contel is a teacher based in Valencia. She repeats what Javier said. People are “sad, outraged and angry,” she said. Amaia is one of thousands of volunteers who have organized to help with recovery efforts. On Sunday, three questions produced a 37-minute, heartbreaking testimony.
“By Thursday, an extensive system had already been developed by the volunteers to know where to send help, and even for survivors to report immediate needs,” she said. Those volunteers walked for miles to reach devastated areas. Amaia said she was lying on the ground on Saturday, and when she arrived in the town of Benetússer, she saw no firefighters, no trucks, no soldiers: “You realize there has been no official help yet.”
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AFP via Getty Images
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) chairs a meeting of the government’s crisis committee next to Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon (C) in L’Eliana on October 31, 2024. Rescuers raced on October 31, 2024 to find survivors and victims of a once-in-a-generation flood in Spain.
A natural disaster becomes political
The government has deployed thousands of troops, police, vigilantes and firefighters to the area. But managing the crisis requires cooperation between the regional government of Valencia, controlled by conservatives, and the central government, controlled by progressives.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has done so repeatedly said that the regional government of Valencia only has to ask for what it needs, and the central government will deliver. Sánchez has also called for political unity at a time of national crisis. The president of the Valencia regional government, Carlos Mazón, has done so defended his management of the crisis, pointing the finger back at the central government.
There even seems to be a lack of agreement within the conservative party, with their national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, calling that the central government would intervene directly, and that Mazón does not want to give up leadership of the recovery efforts.
The official agency that monitors weather events, AEMETbegan warning citizens as early as October 24 of the arrival of what is known as a DANA, a closed, lower-pressure storm system that migrates from an unusually wavy and stalled jet stream. DANAs are not uncommon in Spain, but this time torrential rain was forecast to come to the region.
AEMET also issued warnings, including a red level alert for the area, in the early hours of October 29. But the instant alarm going to citizens’ mobile phones, sent by the Valencia regional government, went out just after 8pm on the day of the storm. By then, rush-hour flooding was already in full swing and many citizens were on their way home. The destruction would happen anyway, but the enormous human toll could have been avoided.
Amaia Contel points the finger at the regional government of Mazón. She said seeing what was happening miles away spurred her into action. She is not a hero, she said, but she is just doing what is right, and the solidarity of volunteers like her is what is coming to the aid of survivors.
“The slogan used in the social networks and the networks of solidarity is ‘El pueblo salva al pueblo’.”
“The people will save the people,” Amaia said.
On Monday morning, commentators on Spanish radio spoke about the efforts of the far right in Spain to take advantage of this crisis. They mention that these groups now use the same slogan: “El pueblo salva al pueblo.”
The post-flood recovery crisis has now become deeply political in Spain. Slogans are stolen and reused, people argue in cafes and bars about whether Sánchez or Mazón is responsible for the tragedy, while survivors continue to suffer.
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