MADRID (AFP) — A group of Catalan nationalists burned photographs of Spanish King Juan Carlos in protest at a visit to the region by the monarch, Spanish media reported on Friday.
"Catalans have no king, get out of Gerona, Bourbon," chanted a group of several hundred demonstrators, as Juan Carlos visited the town in the northeastern region to inaugurate a science and technology park at the local university.
Surrounded by police, the nationalists set alight the photos and read out a manifesto accusing the king of being an "illegitimate" ruler in a monarchy "restored by a dictator".
Former military ruler Francisco Franco personally named Juan Carlos as his successor prior to his death in 1975.
Spanish First Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said that a legal investigation would follow.
"The high court public prosecutor has called for an urgent report," de la Vega said after Friday's cabinet meeting.
"Legal action could follow on from the conclusions of this report," she added, saying the government condemned firmly such behaviour.
Spanish media said the protest could be regarded as "serious insult to the highest officer of state," a crime which carries a jail term of up to two years.
The nationalists also complained at the choice of the king to open the new university facility as a "person who has no link with the academic world, nor with the city, nor the country" in reference to Catalonia.
A sizeable minority of Catalans would like to see the region, which already enjoys considerable autonomy, achieve independence from Spain.
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