"Death to Bourbons" cry raises uproar in Spain

MADRID (Reuters) - A Spanish politician's shout of "Death to the Bourbons," Spain's royal family, has stirred nationalist tensions and sparked demands he resign.

Lower-house deputy Joan Tarda made the cry as members of his Catalan nationalist party, which seeks independence from Spain, burned a coffin symbolizing the Spanish constitution to mark its 30th anniversary Saturday.

Under Spanish law, anybody who insults the royal family can face up to two years in prison.

Leaders from across Spain's political spectrum said his comments were unacceptable and the conservative opposition Popular Party demanded Tarda, a member of the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC), be thrown out of Congress.

"A deputy can't make these sorts of comments, and if he does he has to leave this house immediately," Jose Luis Ayllon, the Popular Party's lower-house leader, said Sunday.

Opinion polls show Spain's King Juan Carlos remains broadly popular three decades after he helped usher in the constitution and end 40 years of dictatorship under General Francisco Franco.

As a symbol of Spain's constitutional monarchy, the royal family is a target for radicals seeking independence or greater autonomy for regions like Catalonia and the Basque country.

In a statement Sunday, Tarda said he did not suggest anyone kill members of the royal family and he meant to criticize the monarchy as an institution.

Tarda's anti-royal statement followed 3 days after ETA guerrillas, who seek an independent Basque state, shot dead a businessman whose firm was building a high-speed rail link between the northwest region and the rest of Spain.

In its previous term, the Socialist government of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, considered amendments to the constitution covering aspects such as autonomous regions.

With Spain facing its worst recession in decades, Zapatero Saturday said constitutional reform was not a priority.

Royal officials were not available for comment.

(Reporting by Andrew Hay; additional reporting by Itziar Rheinlein; editing by Matthew Jones)