The demonstration held for the second anniversary of the tragic dana of October 2024, in which 234 people died, has once again put at the center the demand for "justice, truth and assumption of responsibilities". The victims’ associations have returned to the streets, supported by civic groups and numerous citizens, to "claim the same thing, because the basics have not changed". "And we will continue here because we have legitimacy."
According to the Government Delegation, more than 3,500 people have taken part in the march, which on this occasion adopted the slogan 'Consell dimissió' and a different format from previous years. Since 6:00 p.m., those attending have gathered in Plaza de la Virgen de València, where they have surrounded the enclosure leaving a large empty space in the center as a metaphor for "those who are no longer here". A muixeranga, together with the tabal and the dolçaina, has kicked off the event and the departure of the column toward Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
The leading banner showed the message '233. Consell dimissió', although the official death toll rose to 234 after, just yesterday, the judge in Catarroja added the case of a resident of Paiporta who lost his life after an infected wound.
Before starting the march, the president of the Asociación Víctimas Mortales DANA 29-O, Rosa Álvarez, reminded the media that, two years later, they continue "claiming the same thing because the basics have not changed".
"A year ago, we had Carlos Mazón as president of the Generalitat, fortunately on November 3 we made him resign among all of us, but we still have him as a politician, with parliamentary immunity, and that must be made very clear, especially in the national media, because you leave our community and many people think that the day he resigned he gave up all his privileges. No, he remains in politics, he remains in seat 98, he remains with parliamentary immunity, which is why he is in politics, because really he has no function," she lamented.
The spokesperson insisted that the former leader "continues mocking the families". "And here we remain and will remain because we have the legitimacy, he is an illegitimate being and his actions show that," she concluded.
Álvarez also lashed out at the mayor of València, María José Catalá, whom she accuses of trying to "discourage" participation in the protest by asking the population to avoid traveling to the center because of the possible presence of disturbances called by Blocus.
"His role is to provide security, not the exact opposite, but he is not concerned about the security of the citizenry. What concerns him is that this gathering or this demonstration be resoundingly a success like last year’s. And that is why a great many people are not going to come. Not because they do not support us, but because of the damn words, the irresponsible words of a very bad mayor who has not recognized the victims, who has not paid a single tribute to the victims and who has indeed paid tribute to people and citizens from other communities, whom we also support", he has reproached.
In the same vein, the president of the Associació de Víctimes de la DANA 29 d'Octubre, Mariló Gradolí, has stated, who has stressed that, in these two years, they have mobilized "peacefully" and that "they must know that the streets will always be ours and that we will never stop until truth, justice and reparations arrive".
"After two years in which we have gone out peacefully into the street, the violent will not drive us off the street. And here we are, under the rain, for the dignity of the Valencian people to continue demanding truth, justice and reparations", she has elaborated.
"Negligent and criminal management of 2024"
Gradolí has emphasized that the recent dana Adam "what it has shown is the negligent and criminal management of the dana of 2024". "Lessons have been learned, but responsibilities have not been assumed and that is why we keep going out into the street; because it is very good to learn, one must keep learning, but responsibilities also have to be assumed. And those of 2024 have not been assumed because for the moment we neither know the truth, nor has an apology truly been made and we are waiting for justice".
"And for that we need --he continued-- the Constitutional Court, please, not to apply the aforamiento to Carlos Mazón so that the investigating judge number 3 of Catarroja can simply ask him what he was doing that day, why the protocols were not activated and why the population was not warned".
The protest for the second anniversary of the dana also takes place in a context marked by the recent rail accident in Urda (Toledo), whose victims have "all our support, affection and love", Gradolí has stated.
He has stated that he understands that responsibilities should be demanded for the Urda accident, but he specified that, in the case of the dana, what there was was "a negligent management of the emergency, because the information was there, it was known that a warning had to be given and no warning was wanted to be given". "Remember the WhatsApp from 'Salo, no confining at all'", he added.
Toñi García, who lost her husband and her daughter in the flood, has explained that the Urda accident "has been a great blow for all the relatives of victims because each person who died in the train has been one more of ours who died". "We feel a lot of pain, we are very distressed and we are all shaken", she said.
Toñi considers that, two years after the dana, "something is still failing" in a Valencian government that, in her opinion, "does not know the territory" and "does not believe in the climate emergency".
"A government that does not assume its responsibilities cannot say that it has learned. One learns by admitting the mistakes and the failures and they still, two years after the 2024 dana, have not done so, so it has not been able to learn. Something is still failing and it is the management, the knowledge of the territory. They do not know that we live in a highly vulnerable area, which is a flood-prone area, and as long as they do not know the territory and adapt it, they are not going to learn", she concluded.
Around 19.30h, the head of the march reached Plaza del Ayuntamiento, where 'La dança del velatori' and various 'dansaes' were performed. Next, the names of all the deceased people and the manifesto were read aloud: "We have been taking to the streets for two years to denounce that Mazón's negligence and his Consell caused one of the largest natural catastrophes in the País Valenciano to become a human catastrophe. 234 fatalities who today would still be alive had it not been for the abandonment of the functions of the Valencian government. They are not dead, they are murdered".
Among the main demands are attention to mental health, the development of emergency plans and training for citizens, access to decent housing and, "with our heads held very high", --they emphasized-- that Mazón resign from his seat as a deputy and that the entire Consell submit its resignation. "Mazón to prison, Consell resignation", they exclaimed.
The associations insisted that this mobilization "does not belong to any label", but rather that "it belongs to the victims, to the families and to the organized people".
To conclude, they have expressed their gratitude for the social support, which they have contrasted with the actions of a Valencian government that, according to their complaints, "has done nothing but put obstacles in the investigation" and that, in addition, "has protected and rewarded Mazón" and consellers "reassigned" to whom "their neglect is rewarded by heading electoral lists". "They wanted their abandonment to wear us down, to soak us as the water did. But they have not succeeded and they will not succeed", they have concluded.