The journalist and presenter Matías Prats has traveled to Valencia to report from there on the damage caused by the DANA in the province and in the midst of this work he met the retinue formed by the king and the queen, Felipe VI y Letiziaas well as the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
It should be recalled that this visit ended with the discontent of several groups of people, local residents and others who came from outside the area.who rebuked Pedro Sánchez and even attacked his car, throwing mud and other objects at both the president and the monarchs.
Matías Prats counted in Public Mirror how his encounter with the retinue went and how he experienced that tumult. “We had been there since the morning, we had chosen that area of Paiporta to do our work. We were collecting testimonies from citizens and neighbors. When we were leaving, we happened to meet the kings”, said the journalist.
“I knew I wasn’t going to have much luck, but I said: ‘I’m going to try a first statement of what you’re seeing.‘. When he arrived at my height, just a few meters from the square where the tumult is organized, I told him, ‘What are you seeing, Your Majesty? What do you think?'”, recounted Prats, who, however, as he had predicted, did not get a statement.
Soon after, violence broke out. “The first to be hit is the queen in the face. She is quickly attended to. It was then that some objects and stones rained down.. The bodyguard is still with her while blood gushed from the wound,” says Prats.
The bodyguards warned of the danger and the group of Pedro Sanchez left the areaon the advice of the bodyguards, something that the King and Queen did not do.
“The indignation was growing and turned into a kind of mob. The crowd was very angry. The king did not heed the advice [de los miembros de seguridad]nor did the queen. He said he was going ahead.
“He had the confidence and assurance that they would listen to him. He wanted to reach out to the people. He didn’t crack in his intention. He went forward as best he could. Thanks to his 1.97 height, he never lost the figure of the king at any time. He is surrounded and attends to all those who rebuked him. He wanted to listen to them, he wanted to reason. It was a very risky act, but I see it as positive,” said the Antena 3 presenter, who added, however, that “the visit was not well calculated” and that it would have been better to “test the waters”.
“The king has been understanding. There is a lot of pain, regret and frustration. We have to understand them. There will remain the gesture of the kings,” concluded Prats, who described the Dantesque scenario: “What a disaster, what a tragedy, what a calamity! They have lost everything they had. Their houses, they have been without water, without electricity. It took a long time for aid to arrive. They were surrounded by debris, cars piled up. It took a long time to arrive.