SEVILLE, Spain — Last weekend, a remarkable scene unfolded in Paiporta, a town of about 25,000 people and a suburb of the Valencian metropolis on Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coast. Citizens approached the royal couple, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, as they toured the damage from last week’s storms which caused more than 200 deaths.

A woman approached the queen, who looked distraught, while protests could be heard in the background as another person uploaded the scene to social media. “Letizia, Doña Letizia,” the woman said to the queen, using the Spanish word of respect for the monarch, who had mud on his jacket. She was holding the woman’s hands.

Another man approached the royal couple and spoke to the king: “This government must go. Felipe, there are dead people out there, man.

Two days later, that scene still reverberates in Spain; ordinary citizens are not usually allowed this close to the royal couple, let alone speak to them so informally. The exchange has become symbolic of public anger here at the government’s response to the deadly storms. That public outrage grew in storm-ravaged cities. But last Sunday, public outrage spilled into the public eye.

The storm has now become the country’s worst natural disaster in recent memory. At least 215 people are reported dead. There are still an unknown number of people missing as rescuers work hard to access all affected locations.

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AFP via Getty Images

Who was behind Sunday’s protests?

During the visit of the monarchs to Paiporta, accompanied by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, as well as Carlos Mazón, the president of the autonomous government of the Valencia region, altercations broke out. Some people threw mud at the government contingent, shouted at them, cursed them, calling them “murderers”, urging them to leave the city immediately. Objects were also thrown and a scene of mayhem ensued.

What happened that morning is still unclear. Subsequent media reports uncovers what may have been an organized far-right effort to sabotage the officials’ visit on Sunday. Online, far-right groups have alleged that they managed to hit Sánchez in the back and “destroy his car”. Some of these statements were disprovedbut 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 represents an escalation of the political polarization taking place in Spain, where ASCENT of the far-right party Vox in recent years has shaken the two-party system.

On Sunday, after Sánchez was rushed away by his security detail, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia stayed behind to speak to frustrated citizens. The images from that scene will remain in the memories of the Spaniards and maybe 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 an undemocratic institution.

But despite what happened on Sunday, and while it remains unclear how much of the escalation was the act of far-right groups, one thing seems clear: people in the storm-ravaged region are saddened and sometimes angry, too. .

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AFP via Getty Images

The true growing anger of the survivors

Javier Ruiz Martinez is a reporter for the Spanish radio network Cadena SER. He was on the ground covering the disaster. Last Sunday he sent me a series of audio messages as he sat on the streets of Alfafar under an umbrella. It rained again in Valencia.

Images have been shared around the world showing cars piled on top of each other, a bridge swept away by an overflowing river and cities completely covered in mud. Citizen videos show similar scenes of raging 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 doesn’t show up in those pictures. He talks about the possessions that people have lost. Sometimes it’s seemingly small objects: a comic book collection owned since childhood, college study notes that have been carefully preserved for decades. And photos.

But what’s most striking, Javier said, is the smell.

“The putrid smells that overwhelm everyone who comes here. The feeling that what is to come could be even worse than what has already happened.”

Javier says that watching all this is affecting him too. He tries to remain objective, but says he found himself hugging the survivors after interviewing them. “That sadness, the first feeling of sadness, now turns to anger.”

Javier says what happened to the king and queen on Sunday is not entirely surprising: “I think there is a general sense of anger among the survivors.”

Amaia Contel is a teacher based in Valencia. She echoes 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 drew 37 minutes of harrowing testimony.

“Thursday there was already an elaborate system developed by volunteers to know where to send help and even for survivors to report immediate needs,” she said. Those volunteers walked miles to reach the devastated areas. Amaia said she was on the ground on Saturday and said that when she arrived in the town of Benetússer, she saw no firefighters, no trucks, no soldiers: “You realize that no official help was there yet.”

Manaure Quintero / AFP via Getty Images

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AFP via Getty Images

A natural disaster becomes political

The government has deployed thousands of troops, police officers, civil guards and firefighters to the area. But handling the crisis requires collaboration between the conservative-held regional government of Valencia and the central government, controlled by progressives.

Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has done it repeatedly said that the regional government of Valencia should only ask for what they need and the central government will provide. Sánchez also called for political unity at a time of national crisis. The president of the regional government of Valencia, Carlos Mazón, has appear its handling of the crisis, pointing the finger back at the central government.

There really seems to be a lack of agreement within the conservative party, with their national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, calling for the central government to intervene directly, and Mazón does not want to relinquish command of the recovery effort.

The official agency that oversees weather events, AEMETbegan warning citizens as early as Oct. 24 of the arrival of what is known as DANA, a discontinuous low-pressure storm system migrating from an unusually wavy and blocked current. DANAs are not uncommon in Spain, but this time it was forecast to bring torrential rain to the region.

AEMET also issued warnings, including a red level alert for the area, on October 29 early in the morning. But the direct alert going to citizens’ mobile phones, sent by the regional government of Valencia, went off just after 8pm on the day of the storm. By then, rush hour flooding was underway, with many citizens on the road returning home. The destruction was going to happen regardless, but the huge 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, she is just doing what is right and that the solidarity of volunteers like her is what comes to the rescue of survivors.

“The slogan that is being used in social networks and solidarity networks is ‘El pueblo salva al pueblo.’

“People will save people,” Amaia said.

On Monday morning, commentators on Spanish radio talked about far-right efforts in Spain to capitalize on this crisis. They mention that those groups now use the same slogan, “El pueblo salva al pueblo.”

The crisis of post-flood recovery has now become deeply political in Spain. Slogans are stolen and reused, people argue in cafes and bars whether Sánchez or Mazón is responsible for the tragedy, as survivors continue to suffer.

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