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Protest in Valencia. Jorge Gil / Europa Press
A Fourth Protest Marches Through Valencia Demanding Mazón's Resignation: 'The Victims Are Not Forgotten'

A Fourth Protest Marches Through Valencia Demanding Mazón's Resignation: 'The Victims Are Not Forgotten'

The protest began after 6:00 PM from the Town Hall Square

EP

Valencia

Sábado, 1 de febrero 2025, 20:31

A fourth protest demanding the resignation of the President of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, marched through the centre of Valencia this Saturday, three months after the storm, to "shout loudly that the victims are not forgotten".

The protest, drenched by the afternoon rain, started after 6:00 PM from the Town Hall Square in Valencia and moved through Barcas Street, Poeta Querol, Paz, Queen's Square, Bordadores, and Micalet, ending at the Virgin's Square.

The muixeranga of Algemesí, severely affected after losing its premises due to the storm on October 29, led the protest. The main banner, leading the protest behind the muixeranga, included victims and relatives of some of the flood's mortal victims, as well as representatives of associations and a teacher from IES Picanya.

During the protest, the main banner with the slogan 'Mazón resignation' was joined by others with messages such as 'Rovira resignation', 'President Mazón, you have no shame', 'Rovira: "they caught me there" and with the storm too', 'Negligent councillor + absent councillor = councillor out', 'Mazón liar', 'It can't be done worse', 'Leave now' or 'The tower neither forgets nor forgives'.

Protest in Valencia. Jorge Gil / Europa Press
Imagen principal - Protest in Valencia.
Imagen secundaria 1 - Protest in Valencia.
Imagen secundaria 2 - Protest in Valencia.

Likewise, attendees shouted slogans such as "Mazón resignation", "Mazón assassin of the Valencian people", "The president to Picassent", and sang 'L'estaca' by Lluís Llach.

Negligence of the institutions

One of the four spokespersons of the entities, Anna Mar Bueno, emphasized that the protesters "are here again to shout clearly that the victims are not forgotten: neither those who died in the storm nor the two workers who died in the cleaning tasks". "We also do not forget those who have remained but have seen their entire lives transformed," she added.

"We are here to denounce that the negligence of the institutions, specifically the Consell, was before, during, and after the storm," she stressed, while highlighting that "legal responsibilities are demanded from both the Generalitat and all the businessmen who sent thousands of workers to risk their lives on the day of the storm".

For her part, another spokesperson, Anna Oliver, highlighted that this situation is not only "unprecedented" in the Valencian Community but "in any surrounding country". In her opinion, "just for dignity and shame" the head of the Consell "should resign".

Oliver reiterated that the entities have denounced "all this time" that Mazón "was not prepared to prevent and protect, but neither for reconstruction". "For all this, because he is not worthy, he has not taken responsibility, he has not apologized, three months later he has not yet contacted the families, and he has abandoned the cultural, educational, and social sector of this country, Mr. Mazón must go home," she emphasized.

Likewise, another spokesperson, Alexandra Usó, stressed that the reason for organizing this fourth protest "is the same as the first": "A natural disaster turned into a humanitarian catastrophe because the population was not warned, because the people who should have been in the right places were not there, and those who were there did not do what they should have."

"We also organize it so that the population that has suffered the cold drop knows that we will not abandon them as Mr. Mazón and his Consell have done," she remarked, while lamenting that "normality is very far from reaching these towns".

Usó denounced that "there are educational centres that still have not been able to open their doors, displaced students who do not even have four hours of regular classes". In this regard, she criticized that the Minister of Education, Culture, Universities, and Employment, José Antonio Rovira, "has not walked through the affected area".

Society "neither forgets nor rests until justice is done"

Beatriz Cardona

Co-spokesperson of the conveners

She also recalled that there are people who "still have not been able to leave their homes because the elevators do not work". "Let's not forget the queues of the elderly who, as they cannot expedite all the bureaucracy through the Internet, are making very long lines at the doors of the town halls," she added.

Finally, another spokesperson, Beatriz Cardona, indicated that the rain this Saturday in Valencia "is a reminder of those that occurred three months and two days ago, which happened in the morning and it was not until 8:11 PM that they warned there could be floods, when more than half of the victims were already dead".

Cardona valued that the protest is led by the muixeranga of Algemesí, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. "Despite all the difficulties, they wanted to be with us on the street to remember that the Valencian people, no matter how much water falls on us and how inept our governors are, will persist," she noted, while emphasizing that society "neither forgets nor rests until justice is done".

We are still waiting to be contacted

On the main banner were relatives of the victims like Aitana, who lost her grandfather in the floods and stated, in statements to the media, that "if they had warned earlier" her grandfather would have been saved: "I live two minutes from his house, when we tried to go it was already impossible to cross".

Asked how she would rate the attention received from public institutions, she lamented that it is "null". "We are still waiting for them to contact us," she denounced, while adding that if Mazón met with them they would say "many things, but none good".

For her part, the president of Dones de Picanya, Xelo Sánchez, demanded "answers" from the President of the Generalitat, as well as his resignation to allow "a calm recovery". "There are many people who hope that he, at least, will dedicate a few words to them," Sánchez highlighted, noting that the "negligence" of the head of the Consell makes the citizens "very uncomfortable and angry".

Also attending the protest was Dolores, a member of SOS Desaparecidos, who lost her two children and her husband in the floods and decided to attend the protest to "demand justice for them".

Reading of the manifesto

Around 7:12 PM, the protest, led by the muixeranga of Algemesí, reached the Virgin's Square, where hundreds of people received them with applause.

The representative of the muixeranga of Algemesí Blanca and the teacher from IES Picanya Montse Morales were in charge of reading the manifesto in which they demanded Mazón's resignation and criticized the "lack of housing alternatives" for those affected, that workers included in the ERTE "are not receiving 100 percent of their salary", as well as that "the negligence of all the companies that endangered their workers has not yet been investigated".

Likewise, they denounced the "neglect" by the Ministry of Education towards the affected educational centres, the "delay" in aid to culture, and the "lack of a strategic plan", among other criticisms.

After 7:30 PM, attendees observed a minute of silence for the storm victims. Subsequently, earlier than planned due to the rain, they sounded the Civil Protection alarm that reached the population's phones on the day of the catastrophe.

The protest concluded with applause from the demonstrators shouting "Mazón resignation", "Mazón to prison" and "The president to Picassent", and a figure performed by the muixeranga of Algemesí.

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