Spain flood survivors hurl mud at royals and top government officials

PAIPORTA, Spain (AP) — A crowd of enraged survivors hurled clots of mud left by storm-spawned flooding at the Spanish royal couple on Sunday during their first visit to the epicentre of their nation's deadliest natural disaster in living memory.

Spain's national broadcaster reported that the barrage included a few rocks and other objects and that 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 crafts the image of monarchs adored by their country of more than 48 million people.

Spanish fury has been 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 Sánchez from the scene soon after his contingent started to walk the mud-covered streets of one of the hardest-hit areas, where over 60 people perished and thousands of lives were shattered. The disaster fuelled by climate change killed at least 205 people in eastern Spain.

“Get out! Get out!” and “Killers!” the crowd in the town of Paiporta shouted, among other insults. Bodyguards opened umbrellas to protect the royals and other officials from the tossed muck.

Police had to step in, some officers on horseback, to keep back the crowd of several dozen, some wielding shovels and poles.

Queen Letizia broke into tears sympathetically after speaking to several people, including one woman who wept in her arms. Later, one of the queen's bodyguards had a bloody wound on his forehead and there was a hole in the back window of the prime minister's official car.

But even after being forced to seek protection, King Felipe VI, with flecks of mud on his face, remained calm and made several efforts to speak to individual residents. He insisted on trying to speak with people as he tried to continue his visit. He spoke to several people, patting two young men on their backs and sharing a quick embrace, with mud stains on his black raincoat.

Still, one woman smacked an official car with an umbrella and another kicked it before it sped off.

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