Catalans protest against visit by King and Queen

Hundreds of Catalan independence supporters protested on Monday the visit of King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to the northeastern region as part of a royal tour across Spain.

Protesters carried photos of Felipe upside down and letters completing the sentence "Catalonia doesn't have a king" during a march organised by ANC, the region's largest pro-independence civil society group.

The royals' visit comes as a barrage of media leaks have revealed how the king's father, former monarch Juan Carlos I, allegedly hid millions of untaxed euros in offshore funds.

Against that backdrop, the royal couple are planning to visit all of Spain's 17 regions, intended as a show of support for the citizens and the economy as it recovers from the first wave of the pandemic.

The Catalan leg of the tour was initially planned for last week but royal officials postponed it and scaled it back due to the spike in the number of virus cases in Catalonia.

Tensions between separatists in Catalonia, population 7.5 million, and those in support of Spanish unity came to a head in late 2017 following a banned referendum met with police violence that led to the prosecution of top elected officials and activists.