By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish authorities suspect “violent fringe” groups were part of the mob that struck the Spanish prime minister and hurled mud at the king and queen, the interior minister said on Monday.
On Sunday, chaos broke out during their visit to Paiporta, one of the most devastated areas of the Valencia floods, which killed at least 217 people and led to widespread destruction.
During an interview with Spanish broadcaster RTVE, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez “received a blow” amid the tension.
Protesters wielding sticks and shovels were filmed throwing objects at Sanchez. Once security forces saw a “real and evident threat,” according to Marlaska, he was evacuated from the scene.
As he was leaving, protesters smashed the windows and broke the mirror of one vehicle in his motorcade.
Spain’s king and queen were hit with mud and insults but remained on the scene, stopping to talk to the outraged protesters.
“We will let the investigation take its course … but it is obvious that there was reasonably a minimum of organization on the part of some marginal violent groups that must be condemned in the strongest terms,” said Grande-Marlaska.
He said he expects authorities to offer more updates in the coming days or hours, not only about the people involved but also on “the circumstances.”
According to Spanish daily El Diario, the far-right group Revuelta took credit for smashing the vehicle and hitting Sanchez in the back with a stick on its WhatsApp group.
Another far-right group on Telegram advised followers that the authorities would be visiting the area, urging “everyone to go there to wait for them.”
Sanchez has acknowledged the “suffering and anguish of the people of Paiporta” but rejected the violence.
Spanish King Felipe VI also recognized the “anger and frustration” of residents, but also urged the protesters not to believe everything published online as disinformation about the floods spreads rapidly on social media.
The mob attack also came amid an increasingly tense political situation in Spain.
While most politicians tried to offer a more united front in the days following the disaster, on Monday, Valencian President Carlos Mazon blamed Spain’s hydrographic confederation, an agency affiliated with the central government, for “deactivating” alerts related to the devastating floods before they became deadly.
The confederation later corrected Mazon, saying it neither activates nor deactivates public alerts; it only provides data related to the situation of rivers.
Victims of the floods have also been frustrated by the slow response to the disaster. More than four days after they struck, some areas still had not been reached by authorities. Despite thousands of military personnel ready to deploy, only hundreds had been called to the scene.
On Saturday, Sanchez said the central government was ready to give Valencian authorities anything they wanted; they just had to ask. He then announced a further 5,000 soldiers in Spain’s largest peacetime military deployment in its history.
As of Monday afternoon, Spain’s main opposition leader, Alberto Nunez Feijoo, had not condemned the attacks.
The union of far-right party Vox has offered free legal advice to those involved in the attacks against Sanchez.