THOUSANDS of protesters took to the streets of Madrid yesterday to demand a referendum to abolish Spain’s monarchy.

“Spain will be republican,” they chanted while waving the red, gold and purple flags of the country’s second republic, proclaimed in 1931 but overthrown eight years later by fascist General Francisco Franco at the end of the country’s civil war.

King Juan Carlos abdicated in favour of his son on June 2 and, within hours of the 76-year-old king’s announcement, thousands of republicans had gathered in Madrid and other cities across the country to demand a referendum on the monarchy.