Thousands protest in Valencia over lack of schools after deadly floods

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By Eva Mañez

VALENCIA, Spain (Reuters) – Families and teachers protested in Valencia on Saturday to demand action over schools damaged by the deadly floods that killed over 220 people in eastern Spain and affected thousands of children’s education.

Holding posters demanding the resignation of Valencian leader Carlos Mazon, protesters marched through the Spanish city almost a month after the country’s worst natural disaster in decades on Oct. 29.

Controversy over the regional government’s handling of the floods still rages, and a teachers’ union accused it of leaving the clean-up to teachers and pupils.

Five people remain missing in the Valencia region after torrential rains and flooding drowned people in cars and underground car parks, and collapsed homes.

Thirty schools were still closed, the regional teachers’ union STEPV said, leaving 13,000 children with nowhere to learn.

About 5,000 people attended the demonstration, the Spanish government said.

“We feel abandoned because, teachers, parents and volunteers have had to clean up the schools. We have seen cleaners in some schools but not enough,” STEPV spokesperson Marc Candela told Reuters.

A Valencian regional government spokeswoman said since Nov. 11, about 32,000 students from flood-hit areas have returned to school.

“Extraordinary cleaning tasks are being carried out in educational centres,” Daniel McEvoy, Valencian education minister, said.

Mazon has been accused of sending flood warnings to residents too late.

He has admitted he had made errors but refused to resign and said the body responsible for measuring water flows, run by the national government, failed to send sufficient warnings.

(Reporting by Graham Keeley and Eva Mañez, editing by Giles Elgood)