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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
World
Rachel Hagan

Spain deploys 15,000 police and troops to help flood relief – as vigilante protection groups patrol streets

Volunteers clean streets in Valencia - (Axel Miranda/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/News Images)

Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sanchez has said nearly 15,000 troops and police have been deployed to help the cities and towns affected by Spain’s deadliest flooding disaster in recent history.

Frustration over the government’s management of the flooding crisis has sparked public outcry and prompted some citizens to turn to self-policing, frustrated by what they see as a lacklustre official response. Groups of local men are patrolling rubble-strewn, poorly lit streets in Paiporta, the suburb in Valencia where crowds pelted mud at Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia when they visited at the weekend – and where more than 60 people out of the total death toll of 217 were killed.

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