Hundreds took to the streets of Valencia on Sunday to demand the resignation of the regional president Carlos Mazón and his government for their response to devastating flooding which killed hundreds.
The flooding left at least 228 people dead, thousands homeless and caused millions of euros’ worth of damage.
Sunday's demonstration was organised by more than 200 Valencian social organisations. In the rally, the organisers also wanted to highlight what they describe as negligence on the regional government’s behalf in the days following the flooding.
Protesters denounced the fact that their local authorities, in their view, have no serious plans for the reconstruction of educational infrastructures.
They are demanding more urgent action to help the area return to normal.
Mazón is under immense pressure after his administration failed to issue flood alerts to citizens’ cell phones until hours after the flooding started last October.
Mazón, of the conservative Popular Party, is also being criticized 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 mobilize the thousands of police reinforcements and soldiers that the regional government asked central authorities to send in.
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.
