Mud & Insults Hurled At King & Queen

November 5, 2024 Madrid Metropolitan king felipe, queen leticia, spain news

The royal visit that was supposed to show solidarity with the victims of the Valencia region DANA ended up with boos and shouts of “murderers” and insults & mud were hurled King Felipe, Queen Letizia, Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez and Valencian regional premier Carlos Mazon.

The scenes in the town of Paiporta, where residents have spent five days cleaning up the ravages of the floods and trying to recover what’s left of their homes were chaotic as Civil Guard officers tried to restore order and protect the royal couple.

Crowds shouted “murderers” as the royal party made their way through the town centre, and took their anger out as well on the Valencia premier screaming “Mazón must resign”, “where is Sánchez?” and “Sánchez, son of a bitch!”

While the prime minister was moved to a safe place, the royals felt the brunt of the residents’ anger as they shouted, “we have lost everything”. The King and Queen continued their visit despite insults from the crowd over a delay in aid. Visibly upset and splattered with mud, Queen Letizia sympathised with the flood victims. “How can they not feel this way? How can they not be angry,” she told the Spanish media.

Mazón shared a message on his social media saying he understood the anger of the residents. “I understand the anger and of course I stay to receive it. It is my political and moral obligation. The King’s attitude has been exemplary,” he said.

Last week the monarchs expressed their empathy and solidarity with those affected by the floods offering their “condolences to the families and strength, encouragement and all the necessary support for all those affected”. They also said they deeply appreciated emergency service personnel for their rescue efforts.

As the scale of the disaster became clearer the royal family sent out another message telling of their “despair and concern”, with King Felipe VI announcing that “there should be no limitation of resources”.

To date some 217 victims have been reported and emergency services are continuing the search for the many hundreds still unaccounted for.

On Friday last the king joined the minute’s silence and said: “We must all, administrations, institutions and civil society, remain united to alleviate this hard blow”.

The king and queen have suspended all other activities scheduled for the coming week.