“Go away,” said Spain's king and queen as protesters threw mud at them after a devastating flood

A crowd of angry survivors threw clumps of mud left by stormy floods at Spain's royal couple – King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia – on Sunday during their first visit to the epicenter of their country's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Spain's national broadcaster reported that the barrage included some stones and other objects, and two bodyguards were treated for injuries. One could be seen with a bloody wound on his forehead.

It was an unprecedented incident for a royal house that carefully cultivates the image of monarchs adored by their country of more than 48 million people.

Anger was unleashed against a state that appears overwhelmed and unable to meet the needs of people used to living under an effective government.

Officials also rushed Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez from the scene shortly after his contingent began walking through the muddy streets of one of the worst-hit areas, killing more than 60 people and destroying thousands of lives. The disaster, fueled by climate change, killed at least 205 people in eastern Spain.

“Go away! Go away!” and “murderers!” the crowd in the city of Paiporta shouted, among other things. Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect the royals and other officials from the thrown mud.

The police had to intervene, along with several mounted officers, to hold back the crowd of several dozen people, some with shovels and sticks.

Letizia burst into tears in sympathy after speaking to several people, including a woman who cried in her arms.

But even after being forced to seek protection, Felipe, with mud stains on his face, remained calm and made several attempts to talk to individual residents. He insisted on talking to people as he tried to continue his visit. He spoke to several people, patted two young men on the back and shared a quick hug, with mud stains on his black raincoat.

Still, one woman hit a squad car with an umbrella and another kicked him before running off.

While far from awakening the passion that the British have for their royals, Felipe and Letizia's public events are usually greeted by large numbers of fans.

King replaced his father who resigned due to scandals

Felipe, 56, took over the throne in place of his father, Juan Carlos, who resigned in 2014 after being tarnished by self-made financial and personal scandals.

Felipe immediately cut a new figure by renouncing his personal inheritance and increasing the financial transparency of his royal house. He and Letizia, a 52-year-old former journalist, devote a significant part of their public agenda to cultural and scientific causes.

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Angry protesters in flood-hit Spain throw mud at the king

Security officials struggled to guard Spain's King Felipe as crowds of angry protesters in the flood-hit city of Paiporta threw mud at the royal family and shouted “asesino” (the Spanish word for murderer) and “fuera, fuera” (go away, go away) ) chanted. ).

Visits to sites of national tragedies are also part of royal duties for monarchs, who are seen as a stabilizing force in a parliamentary monarchy restored after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

But public anger over the haphazard management of the flood crisis is growing. Felipe heard cheers as he took part in a tribute to the victims of a deadly terror attack in Barcelona in 2017, but that was nothing compared to Sunday's reception.

Letizia had small blobs of mud on her hands and arms as she spoke to women.

“We don't have water,” a woman told her.

Many people still have no drinking water five days after the floods. Internet and mobile telephony coverage remains patchy. Most people did not get power again until Saturday. Shops and supermarkets are in ruins and Paiporta, with a population of 30,000, still has many city blocks completely clogged with piles of rubbish, countless totalitarian cars and a ubiquitous layer of mud.

Thousands of people have had their homes destroyed by a tsunami-like wave of mud, and outrage over the mismanagement of the disaster has begun.

Floods had already hit Paiporta when regional officials issued a mobile phone alert. It sounded two hours late.

Canadian describes 'pure carnage'

“It's just absolutely devastating… mud everywhere,” Macrae Morse, a Canadian living in Spain's Valencia region, told CBC News.

“People outside their homes look shocked… just by the carnage.”

Even more anger has been fueled by officials' inability to respond quickly to the aftermath. Most of the clearing of the layers of mud and debris that have invaded scores of homes has been done by residents and thousands of volunteers.

“We have lost everything!” someone shouted.

Sunday's cries included demands for Valencia regional president Carlo Mazon, whose government is responsible for civil protection, to resign, as well as “Where is Pedro Sanchez?”

“I understand the outrage and of course I stayed to receive it,” Mazon said on X. “It was my moral and political duty. The king's attitude this morning was exemplary.”

Spanish national broadcaster RTVE reported that the barrage targeting the royals included the throwing of a few stones and other hard objects and two bodyguards being treated for injuries, with the monarchs and officials making another stop on Sunday in a second hard-hit village, Chiva. , about half an hour east of the city of Valencia.