Spain Right-wing extremists under suspicion after riots during royal visit

The violent protests during the visit of the Spanish royal couple and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to the flood disaster area in the east of the country may have been organized by radical right-wing groups.

There are some indications of this, explained Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on state television station RTVE. Investigations had been initiated.

Regarding the riots in her municipality of Paiporta, not far from the provincial capital Valencia, Mayor Maribel Albalat said that she did not know many of the violent demonstrators. They had probably traveled all the way here.

King Felipe and Queen Letizia were pelted with mud in Paiporta on Sunday. One of Letizia's bodyguards was bleeding from the face, while the Queen, covered in mud, cried and clutched her head. According to the left-wing government, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was attacked with a stick and quickly left the community, while the royals faced up to the anger of the citizens. Protesters kicked and punched the head of government's car. Among other things, people shouted "Murderer, murderer" or "Get lost!" Some of these people were wearing T-shirts with ultra-right symbols.

The king warns of fake news and chaos

The monarch also clearly indicated on Sunday that the unrest could have been politically motivated and spurred on by fake news. "Don't listen to everything that is published. There is a lot of information frenzy. There are people who are interested in it. Why? So that chaos breaks out," Felipe told residents who were allowed to approach and speak to him, as was heard on Spanish TV.

The most prestigious Spanish media also agreed, citing their own sources: The residents, angered by their situation and some mistakes by the authorities, had been infiltrated and incited by right-wing extremist activists. The understandable indignation of the storm victims had been exploited by these groups, wrote the newspaper "La Vanguardia" in an editorial. According to RTVE, there were calls in far-right chats for people to travel to Paiporta in order to "welcome" the socialist head of government Sánchez in particular.

According to the latest official figures, at least 217 people died in the so-called storm of the century in eastern Spain - most of them in the Valencia region, which is popular with holidaymakers. However, a feverish search is still underway for missing persons. There is no official number of missing persons. In Valencia, there was as much rain in a few hours on Tuesday in some places as there usually is in a year.

SDA