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Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

Protesters confront police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9, 2024. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)
Protesters confront police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9, 2024. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)
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Thousands Protest over Handling of Spanish Flood Disaster

Protesters confront police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9, 2024. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)
Protesters confront police in front of city hall during a demonstration to demand the resignation of Valencia Regional President Carlos Mazon in Valencia on November 9, 2024. (Photo by Cesar Manso / AFP)

Thousands of people demonstrated in the eastern Spanish city of Valencia on Saturday over regional authorities' handling of devastating floods that killed more than 220 people in one of Europe's worst natural disasters for decades.
In the latest demonstration over the floods, protesters filled the center of Valencia demanding the resignation of regional government leader Carlos Mazon and chanting "Killers!".
"Our hands are stained with mud, yours with blood," read one banner. Some demonstrators dumped muddy boots outside the council building in protests.
Residents in stricken areas accuse Mazon of issuing an alert too late, at 8 p.m. on Oct. 29, well after water was already pouring into many nearby towns and villages.
The Valencian leader has said he would have issued an earlier alarm earlier if authorities had been notified of the seriousness of the situation by an official water monitoring body. Mazon did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
"We want to show our indignation and anger over the poor management of this disaster which has affected so many people," said Anna Oliver, president of Accio Cultural del Pais Valenciano, one of about 30 groups that organized the protest.
Following days of storm warnings from the national weather service from Oct. 25 onward, some municipalities and local bodies raised the alarm much earlier than the regional government.
For example, Valencia University told its staff on Oct. 28 not to come to work. Several town halls suspended activities, shut down public facilities and told people to stay home.
Weather service AEMET raised its threat level for heavy rains in the area to a red alert at 7:36 a.m. on Oct. 29.
Nearly 80 people are still missing in what is the most deadly deluge in a single European country since floods in Portugal in 1967 killed around 500.

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Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
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Public Mourns 35 Killed in Attack at Sports Complex in Southern Chinese City

A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)
A man offers flowers outside the "Zhuhai People's Fitness Plaza" where a man rammed his car into people exercising at the sports center, in Zhuhai in southern China's Guangdong province on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. (AP)

Members of the public paid their respects Wednesday to people killed by a driver who rammed into people exercising a sports complex in southern China, as the country mourned, but little information was available about the suspect or the victims in the attack.

The crash Monday night in Zhuhai killed 35 people and severely injured 43 others, and the driver was detained as he was trying to escape. Authorities said the 62-year-old man with the surname Fan was upset over his divorce settlement.

Members of the public had started bringing flowers in honor of the victims Tuesday night and continued into Wednesday.

There was a light police presence in the morning at the Zhuhai sports complex, which was closed until further notice, but the number of officers increased as the morning passed.

While police allowed people to leave bouquets of flowers in memory of the dead just outside the entrance of the sports complex, volunteers then quickly moved the flowers inside to the sports center.

“May there be no thugs in heaven,” said the message on one bouquet. “Good deeds will be rewarded and evil deeds will be punished.”

The attack occurred on the eve of the Zhuhai Airshow, an aviation exhibition sponsored by the People's Liberation Army that is held every two years.

China authorities often make extra efforts to tightly control information around major or sensitive events like the airshow. Censors also take extra care around major catastrophes or violence, often censoring eyewitness accounts. Clear information on the death and injury toll was not available for almost 24 hours after the attack.

Videos were quickly censored inside China, though they circulated outside the Great Firewall. They were posted by Teacher Li, an artist turned dissident who runs a X account with 1.7 million followers that posts crowdsourced videos about news in China.

Articles from Chinese media featuring interviews with survivors were quickly taken down Monday and Tuesday. The news that trended about the attack was largely based on official statements from authorities.

Police said their preliminary investigation found Fan was dissatisfied with the split of financial assets in his divorce. Beyond that description, further information was not available on his divorce or alleged motive.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping called for the “strict” punishment of the perpetrator according to law, in a statement Tuesday evening.

He also called on all local governments “to strengthen prevention and control of risks at the source, strictly prevent extreme cases from occurring, and to resolve conflicts and disputes in a timely manner,” according to the official Xinhua news agency.