The citizen protest against President Carlos Mazón intensifies. Tens of thousands of people in Valencia have demanded the resignation of Carlos Mazón in the second massive demonstration in just three weeks for his catastrophic management of DANA on October 29, which left 222 dead and four missing. The protesters have shouted “Mazón murderer” or “El president a [la prisión de] Picassent.”
Hours before the march, called in the Valencia City Hall square, thousands of people have walked from the devastated municipalities in l’Horta Sud towards the center of the city to join the demonstration, called under the motto of “Mazón resignation”. .
The leader of the demonstration has started the march in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento and is moving towards the Plaza de la Virgen, a stone’s throw from the Palau de la Generalitat. The protest has brought together tens of thousands of people although it has not repeated the massive attendance of last November 9, when more than 130,000 people took to the streets calling for the resignation of the head of the Consell.
One of the columns of protesters has arrived from the towns of l’Horta Sud and the city neighborhoods affected by DANA. One of the banners read: “14 residents of the La Torre neighborhood are missing here due to political incompetence.”
In the march there were also numerous banners referring to the late sending of the mass alert on DANA day and to the meal that the president extended, despite the ravages of the flood, at the Ventorro restaurant. Criticism has also been heard of the Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, for his management of the educational centers in the affected areas.
The demonstration was led by a 112 worker, a teacher, an affected businesswoman from Algemesí, an affected resident of Picassent, a resident of Albal, Josep Maria Tarazona – from the Institut d’Estudis Comarcals -, a teacher, a memoirist and professor in Catarroja and another affected.
“The reality is that, a month later, our towns and cities continue to be destroyed. This Government is morally and ethically incapable of carrying out the reconstruction that they are selling,” said Anna Oliver, one of the co-spokespersons of the social entities, in statements to the media before starting the march reported by Europa Press.
Mazón’s “militarized government”
Oliver explained that, after the “massive and historic” demonstration on November 9, they have called again to take to the streets because Mazón made an appearance in the Corts Valencianes that, in his opinion, “was shameful.” “He did not apologize, he did not give any reasonable explanation for what had happened and he only sold smoke,” he reproached.
“They are the government of destruction, they are the militarized government, the government that is only giving money to punished companies linked to corruption cases. We do not want them to direct the reconstruction and return to normality of the people who are abandoned in towns and cities,” he maintained.
Another of the co-spokespersons, Alexandra Usó, has lamented that, a month after the tragedy, the towns “continue as if we were in the third world” and has denounced that “aid has not arrived” while people “are suffering.” For this reason, they ask “that the Mazón government and Mr. Mazón in particular be held accountable.”
Mar Cardona, also co-spokesperson, has denounced the “militarization of the civil government” in the Consell and has valued the “self-organization” of society to mobilize in demonstrations like the one this Saturday, as well as with solidarity with affected municipalities.
One demonstration a week
The new Minister of Emergencies, Juan Carlos Valderrama, expressed, shortly before the march, his respect for “the opinion of Valencians.” This Saturday’s demonstration is preceded by the concentrations called the previous day, on the occasion of the first month of DANA, in the affected towns and in Valencia, where the massive alert sent to mobile phones was sounded at 8:11 p.m. on the 29th. October, when hundreds of citizens were already trapped by the ravine.
Furthermore, on November 23, thousands of people demonstrated to demand the resignation of Mazón and his Minister of Education, José Antonio Rovira, for the management of the educational centers in the affected areas.
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