Protesters Clash With Police Over Response to Flood Response in Spain

TaiwanPlus News

Thousands of protesters turned out in Valencia, Spain to demand accountability for the government's response to historically deadly floods that killed at least 220 people.

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00:00Protesters take to the streets in Valencia, Spain, angry at the local government's handling

00:08of deadly flooding that's killed more than 220 people.

00:12They've left muddy handprints, symbolizing blood, on the walls of the regional government

00:17palace.

00:18The regional government didn't warn on time for the flooding, didn't respond on time,

00:23didn't get the help from the central government on time, and they just did everything that

00:29they could wrong.

00:30So we want them to quit and to let a new government to take over the responsibilities to clean

00:36up the mess that they left.

00:41Brief violent clashes broke out between police and demonstrators after authorities attempted

00:46to break up the protests.

00:48The floods were the worst to hit Spain in decades.

00:51They were caused by massive rainfall on October 29th, devastating large parts of the country's

00:56east.

00:57At least 80 people are still missing, and the search for survivors is ongoing.

01:03Many people in Valencia, the most affected region, are angry at their local leader for

01:08his lack of urgency leading up to the storm.

01:10According to the forecast, the storm is moving towards the Serranía de Cuenca at the moment,

01:15so it is expected that around 6 p.m. the intensity will decrease in the rest of the Valencian

01:22community.

01:26People are also angry about reports that he refused to cancel a lunchtime meeting on the

01:31day of the storm.

01:33Many are exhausted from the disaster.

01:36We are alive, I don't know how, and all I want to say is that this abandonment and this

01:43institutional negligence has to be paid for.

01:46And even though I'm exhausted, I haven't slept at all, I'm very anxious, I'm here

01:52to demand answers, because this is not normal.

01:56Spain has set aside at least 10 billion U.S. dollars for the first round of rescue and

02:00recovery efforts.

02:01But with the devastation still fresh in the minds of Valencians, they continue to call

02:06for accountability from their leaders.

02:09Ryan Wu and Chris Gorin for Taiwan Plus.

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