Spain’s Premier Rushed Away as Angry Crowd Surrounds King

Rodrigo Orihuela
·3-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez had to be rushed away by security after an angry mob surrounded him and King Felipe VI, as frustration grows in the aftermath of flash floods that have killed at least 211 people.

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The king, Sanchez and the regional President of Valencia, Carlos Mazon, were visiting the city of Paiporta, one of the locations most affected by the Oct. 29 flash floods, when the crowds started chanting “murderer, murderer” at Sanchez and Mazon, and throwing objects including a stick.

As Sanchez was escorted away, Felipe continued walking and sought to speak to a group of protesters. Such situations are rare for the monarch, who is rarely confronted by angry citizens.

Frustration has been escalating in the coastal region of Valencia since the Oct. 29 rainfalls that destroyed entire towns, railways and highways. Many towns, such as Paiporta, received little or no rain but were ravaged by overflowing rivers carrying water from the areas where the torrential rains fell.

Such extreme storms, known in Spain as “danas,” are likely to become more common as climate change increases the frequency and intensity of heat waves. Record temperatures in the Mediterranean are strengthening their effects.

Central to the frustration and the management of the crisis lies the toxicity of Spanish politics. The central government and Valencia are led by rival parties and while Sanchez and Mazon have said that they are working together and supportive of each other in managing the worst natural disaster in decades, tensions are clear.

The issue of who manages the emergency — and how — is complicated in a highly decentralized country, where regional autonomy is a pillar of the political system.

Under Spanish rules, the regional government has full control unless it specifically requests the central administration to take over. Madrid can also take over pro-actively by using a special legal prerogative — though the option is rarely used.

Criticism has mounted against Mazon for having been slow to send out a mass alert for people to take shelter on Oct. 29, and also to seek help from the central government after the rains. On Friday, he requested 500 soldiers, before increasing that to 5,000 a day later.

But anger is also growing against Sanchez for not stepping in to take control, even as he has pledged publicly that he will work with Mazon. On Saturday, he said in a speech that he will provide all the necessary help and that all Mazon has to do “is ask.”

Large parts of the assistance to residents in Valencia in the initial days came from thousands of volunteers, fueling criticism that governments weren’t doing enough. Hundreds of people are still missing and many buildings are still inaccessible.

Yesterday the government announced that it was sending in 5,000 soldiers and another 5,000 policemen, the biggest peacetime deployment of armed and security forces.

(Updates with details throughout.)

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