The scenes playing out in Paiporta laid bare the mounting sense of abandonment among the devastated areas and the lingering anger over why an alert urging residents not to leave home on Tuesday was sent after the flood waters began surging.
Much of the fury appeared to be directed at the elected officials, as calls rang out for the resignation of Pedro Sánchez, the country's prime minister, and Carlos Mazón, Valencia's regional leader.
Sánchez was swiftly evacuated as bodyguards used umbrellas to protect the group from the barrage of mud. "What were they expecting?" one furious local asked the newspaper El País. "People are very angry. Pedro Sánchez should have been here on day one with a shovel."
The king insisted on continuing the visit, at one point meeting a man who wept on his shoulder. He was also confronted by a young man who told him: "You've abandoned us," asking why residents had been left on their own to grapple with the aftermath of the deadly floods. "You're four days too late," he told the king.
Esta historia es de la edición November 04, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición November 04, 2024 de The Guardian.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Taking the hotel with you' Climate pays price as younger cruisers drive boom in sea holidays
This summer was the first time 31-year-old Daisie Morrison had been on a cruise when she set sail on a two-week holiday with two friends, also in their early 30s.
'I'm embarrassed driving it': Tesla owners turn on Musk
Embarrassed Tesla owners have started to publicly display their dismay at Elon Musk as he has moved ever closer to the US president-elect, Donald Trump, and various far-right conspiracy theories.
Stage review A punchy revival of rags-to-riches morality tale
A punchy revival of rags-to-riches morality tale
Early nights? A mere 30 years too late, the World is being remade to suit me
Today I begin three days of being locked in a tiny soundproofed windowless room, alone except for a book.
Lookalike contests How many Zendayas, Chalamets and Whites does it take to cheer a city up?
When Miles Mitchell's friends saw flyers scattered across New York City last month advertising a Timothée Chalamet lookalike competition, they urged the 21-year-old college senior from Staten Island to enter.
TV review 'It's Wolf Hall in a fever dream and polyester. But it's real'
This show is King Lear if Lear was on sugar-daddy dating sites and had a loudly professed interest in \"natural breasts\".
Boozy Christmas parties being replaced by crazy golf and scavenger hunts
From telling your boss what you really think of them, to an ill-advised hook-up with a colleague, the traditional British office Christmas party usually supplies enough drama to provide ammunition for workplace gossip well into January.
Wicked or wonderful? Cynthia Erivo backs cinema singalongs
The Wicked star Cynthia Erivo has joined the debate over whether it is acceptable to sing along to the blockbusting musical in cinemas - and she is fine with it.
Most wanted Ex-activist says FBI offered deal to catch fugitive found in UK
A former animal rights activist who was on the run from the FBI for more than seven years claims that he was offered a deal to inform on one of the organisation's most wanted fugitives, who was arrested this week in Wales.
Sumptuous Dutch golden age still lifes are reunited in Cambridge
A quartet of influential still-life paintings by the Dutch artist Jan Davidsz de Heem will go on display together for the first time since the 17th century at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.