The eighth protest against Mazón regarding the flooding keeps the momentum with 5,000 people on the streets of Valencia.

5,000 people took to the streets of Valencia on Sunday afternoon to demand the resignation of Carlos Mazón, president of the Generalitat, for his handling of the floods, according to estimates from the Government Delegation in the Valencia Community (4,500, according to Local Police). The march took place without incidents under intense heat, which participants combated with fans or, at times, using signs to cool off.

“Mazón, resign” and “The president, to Picassent” (referring to the prison located in that town) were the most repeated chants and slogans during the eighth demonstration organized against the management of the Consell, coinciding with the eight-month anniversary of the floods that caused 228 deaths and a trail of multimillion-dollar damages in the province of Valencia.

The presence of family members of the deceased victims at the front generated supportive applause from numerous passersby who encountered the march in the Town Hall square. Toñi García held a sign with photos of her husband and daughter, Miguel and Sara Carpio, who were killed, alongside the demand for justice for all victims.

The organizers, nearly 200 civic, social, and union entities, mostly leftist, continue to put pressure on Mazón from the PP, despite the heatwave on this Sunday, the pre-holiday period, and the numerous monthly calls for protests.

Protesters demanded accountability and reconstruction “for the people.” In their manifesto read at the end in the Virgin square, they criticized the lack of “housing alternatives for affected people,” that workers included in furloughs were not receiving 100% of their salary, and that the negligence of all the companies that endangered the lives of their employees has not yet been investigated, among other issues.

The president of the Victims Association of the 29-O Flood, Rosa Álvarez, stated in media comments that the reconstruction after the flood is “false” and “has nothing to do with reality.” “There are many things yet to advance,” such as “the elevators that still do not work” [at least a thousand], because “there’s money, but no parts or labor.” She also lamented that “there are 13 schools that need to be rebuilt from scratch, starting over.” “Those that are underway lack laboratories, gyms, teachers’ rooms, but they want to roll them out anyway,” she detailed. She assured that she will continue the protests “until this man has the dignity to resign and make himself available to justice.”

Attendance has gradually decreased over time, from nearly 130,000 at the first protest on November 9; 15,000 attended the seventh, and 5,000 this Sunday for the eighth. One demonstration had to be canceled due to the massive power outage on April 28.

Never in the democratic history of the Valencia Community has there been such a series of well-attended demonstrations, with thousands of people on the streets each time, as those organized against the management of the Generalitat and, specifically, against Mazón.

The president has not yet revealed in detail what he was doing and where he was after a long lunch with a journalist, between approximately 6:30 PM on October 29 and 8:28 PM when he entered the emergency coordination center, led by then-Interior Minister Salomé Pradas, who was dismissed three weeks later. Pradas is charged, along with her former deputy, Emilio Argüeso.

Protesters have not ceased to demand explanations, as they did again this Sunday, from the top official of the Consell regarding his whereabouts while nearly 80 Valencian municipalities were flooding and most victims were losing their lives or struggling to save themselves before the Generalitat sent alert messages to citizens’ mobile phones at 8:11 PM on that fateful day.

Mazón, however, has resisted multiple pressures, including from within his own party, to resign, aided by the difficulty of reaching an agreement with Vox on a candidate to replace him in the PP benches in Les Corts Valencianes. The far-right prefers to keep a politically wounded president, although it justifies its position by stating that the priority is to focus on reconstruction. Additionally, the political spotlight has shifted toward the PSOE and the government following the explosion of the Koldo-Ábalos-Santos Cerdán corruption scandal.

Thus, Mazón has gained some breathing room and increased his presence, although he still avoids going near the flood zone to escape criticism and booing from the public. He has also yet to meet with three of the main victims’ associations. However, he has ramped up his political activity, seizing every opportunity to argue that the Generalitat is acting “quickly” in aid and reconstruction, while the government led by socialist Pedro Sánchez “does nothing.”

This Monday, eight months later, Carlos Mazón is expected to present the Reconstruction Plan, commissioned to Vice President and Recovery Minister Francisco José Gan Pampols, a former military officer, who collaborated on its preparation with the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Business Advisors (PwC), awarded an emergency contract valued at 2.2 million euros (including VAT).