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		</div><p>Hundreds of Catalan independence supporters have protested over a visit by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia to the region, during a royal tour across Spain meant to boost morale during the coronavirus pandemic.</p>
<p>The visit came amid mounting media reports accusing the king’s father, former monarch Juan Carlos I, of allegedly hiding millions of untaxed euros in offshore funds.</p>
<p>Prosecutors in the country’s Supreme Court are determining whether Juan Carlos can be investigated for allegedly receiving the funds from Saudi Arabia, possibly as kickbacks for a high-speed railway project.</p>
<p>The former king has not publicly addressed the allegations against him.</p>
<p>The scandal is the latest to rock the Spanish royal family. In mid-March, it prompted Felipe to renounce any inheritance he could receive from his father and stripped him of the annual stipend he received.</p>
<p>Juan Carlos abdicated on behalf of his son in 2014.</p>
<p>With that backdrop, the royal couple launched a visit to all of Spain’s 17 regions that was designed as a show of support for the citizens and the economy as it recovers from the first wave of the pandemic.</p>
<p>The Catalan leg of the tour was initially planned for last week, covering several towns and Barcelona, but the palace said it had postponed it and scaled it back to a short visit to a monastery because of the spike in virus cases in and around the regional capital.</p>
<p>Protesters on Monday 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.</p>
<p>“Are the king and the queen here to promote tourism? What they promote is repulsiveness,” said protester Marta Martí.</p>
<p>“They know we don’t want them. But they come here to test our patience.”</p>
<p>Tensions between separatists in Catalonia, which has a population of 7.5 million, and those in support of Spanish unity came to a head in late 2017.</p>
<p>A banned referendum was met with police violence, and prompted the prosecution of top elected officials and activists.</p>
<p>“We want democracy, simply democracy,” said school teacher Marcel Barbosa, adding that the king had shown disrespect for Catalans’ demands for independence.</p>
<p>“They know they are going to lose and that they will need to leave, that’s why we are not allowed to vote.”</p>
<p>The march was heading to the Royal Monastery of Poblet, which the king and the queen were visiting, but police blocked access at the main road.</p>
<p>Some of the activists tried to reach the monastery by venturing into nearby vineyards.</p>
<p>Separated by a line of riot police, a dozen people expressed support for the Spanish royals. All protesters left after the end of the visit.</p>
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