Students from across Spain demonstrated this Tuesday morning in support of those affected by DANA in Valencia. They demonstrated in cities like Madrid, Barcelona or Bilbao where they demanded the resignation of Valencian leaders like President Carlos Mazón, and where they also criticized the central government. In Barcelona, some 1,000 students demonstrated against what they consider “negligence” on the part of the Generalitat Valenciana in the DANA management and in solidarity with those affected.
The march, convened separately by the Students’ Union and the Sepc, began at 12:15 p.m. in Plaza Universitat and progressed through the streets of Pelai, Plaza Catalunya, Calle de Fontanella and Via Laietana towards Sant Jaume Square. where the demonstration ended. The students chanted slogans such as “Solidarity with the Valencian people”, “Popular party, criminal party”, “Mazón resigns, he is going to prison”, “If there is no solution, there will be a revolution” and “They are not dead, they are murdered”.
They demand responsibilities
In statements to the media before the start of the march, Sepc spokesperson Tània Ros criticized the “negligence” of the Mazón government and demanded his resignation and that of the political leaders who handled this tragedy. Likewise, he insisted that responsibilities be demanded.
In this sense, Ros demanded criminal responsibilities for employers who “forced their workers to attend to their work and put their lives in danger” and that tourist apartments be expropriated to rehouse the people concerned.
Responsible persons with “first and last name”
The spokesperson for the Student Union – the entity that is calling for the statewide strike -, Paula Leiva, assured that “those responsible have a first and last name”, At the same time, he also demanded Mazón’s resignation. “It’s absolutely shameful to see that he did absolutely nothing and did not send alert on time and this produced hundreds and hundreds of deaths. We also point to other leaders: the Employers’ Association and businessmen, who are the enemies of the working class,” he added.
Protesters hold banners reading phrases such as “When the streets become rivers, the people are the bridge”, ‘Mazón resignation, clown party’, “DANA is devastating and the government is failing” and “Politicians are pointing fingers and people are in the gutter.”
“Mazón is an absolute criminal”
The demonstration arrived around 1:15 p.m. at the Plaza de Sant Jaume, where participants gathered in front of the Palau de la Generalitat and chanted slogans such as “País Valencià, Països Catalans”, “Long live the struggle of the working class”. and “Long live the struggle of the working class” and “Mazón resignation”. Ros read a Sepc manifesto in which they call to “end a criminal system that prioritizes economic interests over life” and claims that students do not want to go to class while in Valencia they continue their studies. consequences of DANA.
For his part, Leiva also defended the struggle of young people to demand answers to the devastation of DANA and insisted that “This natural disaster is not limited to that, it was a massacre and Mazón is an absolute criminal.” The participants demanded that the Government allocate all the necessary resources to those affected by DANA and valued the solidarity of citizens with the Valencian people.
