An angry crowd splattered Spain's king and queen with mud when they visited a flood-ravaged town on Sunday.
Bodyguards opened umbrellas to shield King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia, Reuters said, but their faces and clothes were dirtied, according to AFP.
The face of one of Letizia's bodyguards was also bloodied, apparently by a thrown object, Reuters said.
The extraordinary spectacle in Paiporta, near the Balaeric Sea coast, erupted as residents chanted "Murderers, murderers!" in the wake of a torrential storm Tuesday that unleashed flash floods, killing at least 217 people in the Valencia region as of Sunday.
Residents have accused the government of failing to alert them ahead of time and responding slowly afterward.
"All we wanted was to be warned and we would have been saved," Nuria Chisber yelled with tears in her eyes.
Security guards whisked away Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and regional Gov. Carlos Mazon, the main targets of the protesters' wrath, but the royals stayed behind to try to calm the crowd, AFP said.
"There is a lot of toxic information going around and a lot of people interested in chaos," Felipe told the crowd.
The king was also reportedly seen hugging a crying man against his shoulder and the queen wept as she hugged other residents, Reuters said.
Some of the hundreds of people in the crowd wore clothing with symbols of far-right groups that often stage protests against Spain's leftist government, according to Reuters.
Television images showed Sanchez's car with a smashed rear window and he later condemned "all forms of violence" while also saying he empathized with the "anguish and suffering" of the flood victims, AFP reported.
Mazon also wrote on X: "I understand the public anger and of course I will stay to receive it. It is my political and moral obligation. The King's attitude this morning has been exemplary."
More rain was forecast later Sunday.
