King and Queen of Spain attacked during royal visit
The king and queen of Spain have been attacked by furious locals during a tour of the flood-ravaged area of Valencia.
King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia were met by an angry mob who have been dealing with the fallout of deadly flooding that has killed 217 people, with another 1,900 missing.
Accompanied by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the royal couple arrived in Paiporta on Sunday, when a crowd of hundreds descended.
The crowd began to throw mud, rocks, sticks and rubbish at the group while screaming “murderer” and “shame”, with much of the vitriol seeming to be directed as the Spanish leader.
The royals were struck with some of the debris, with vision showing the couple’s faces and clothing dirtied with mud.
“It’s been four days, where have you been?” one onlooker yelled at the king. “You’ve just come here to pose for pictures. You have no shame.”
Another screamed at a visibly frightened Queen Letizia, “You lack for nothing while we here don’t even have water to drink.”
According to reports, security tried to whisk the royals away to safety but King Felipe insisted they stay and continue speaking with those who wanted to, with the couple later seen consoling survivors, with one man crying on the king’s shoulder.
As they eventually got into their car to leave, a policeman shouted “long live the king”, which was met with howls of “guillotine” by some of the protesters.
In a statement issued by the palace hours after the melee, it was announced a second visit by the king to nearby Chiva, another flood-affected town, had been called off.
Juan Bordera, a local politician in Valencia, told the BBC that the king and queen’s tour was a “very bad decision”.
“It’s logical that the people are angry, it’s logical that the people didn’t understand why this visit is so urgent,” Mr Bordera told the BBC.
Image credits: GTres/Shutterstock Editorial