SPAIN: Catalonia gets ready to say goodbye to an old tradition with Barcelona's last bullfight

Record ID: 375616

  • Title: SPAIN: Catalonia gets ready to say goodbye to an old tradition with Barcelona's last bullfight
  • Date: 23rd September 2011
  • Summary: PRESIDENT OF ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANISATION 'LIBERA', CARLOS LOPEZ PEREZ, WALKING IN CIUTADELLA PARK DUCKS IN CIUTADELLA LAKE / CARLOS LOPEZ PEREZ CLOSE UP OF PEREZ (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF 'LIBERA' ANIMAL RIGHTS ORGANISATION, CARLOS LOPEZ PEREZ, SAYING: "We think Galicia will join us soon, as there is no tradition for bullfighting there, as in several regions of
  • Embargoed: 8th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain, Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Lifestyle,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAB6K8FRDJEA7FY5EIPVK5O09FG
  • Story Text: Barcelona's main bullfighting arena La Monumental will be opening its doors for the last time on Sunday (September 25), and so will the few remaining arenas elsewhere in the Spanish north-eastern region of Catalonia.
    After a local parliamentary vote in June 2010 that pitted animal rights activists against fans of the centuries-old national tradition, Catalonia became the first mainland Spanish region to ban bullfighting, and it comes into force in January 2012.
    The bill went to parliament after 180,000 Catalans signed a petition circulated by anti-bullfighting group Prou!, which means 'Enough' in English. The region became the second in Spain to ban the performance as bullfighting was made illegal in the Canary Islands in 1991, a part of Spain where bullfighting was never a tradition.
    Catalan contemporary artist Miquel Barcelo has been in charge of designing Barcelona's last bullfighting poster, which has been set up all over the Catalan capital.
    La Monumental, opened in 1914 with a capacity for 20,000 people, has seen bullfighting crowds dwindle for some years.
    Those in favour of bullfighting say it creates thousands of jobs and is central to the tourist industry, and now fans have mixed feelings, according to David Guillen, spokesman for the Catalan Bullfighting Federation.
    "I think fans have mixed feelings. On the one hand they feel sorry, angry, powerless, but at the same time it feels unreal, like when you suddenly lose somebody you love and you feel it is unreal for some days. I think us fans are more or less in the same situation," he said, adding that they were trying to get one million signatures to appeal against the ban.
    Josep Navarro, 60, a big fan of bullfighting, compared banning a tradition with living under repression.
    "This is like a dictatorship. We don't do anything wrong to anyone and we are banned from having a 300 year old show. And in Barcelona, where there used to be three bullfighting arenas," he said.
    But opponents say it is just the beginning of the end and that animal suffering has no place in a modern society.
    Carlos Lopez Perez, member of animal rights organisation Libera, which was part of Prou!, the joint organisation which promoted the bullfighting ban, says it is only the start of a trend that will sweep the whole country.
    "We think Galicia will join us soon, as there is no tradition for bullfighting there, as in several regions of northern Spain. Of course it is going to take longer in Madrid and Andalucia, but it's a matter of time, a logical process in every society that develops towards fairer social standards. We think this is only the beginning, we believe there is going to be a chain reaction," the 55-year-old activist said.
    Rosa Gil, owner of the traditional 'Casa Leopoldo' restaurant and widow of Jose Falcon, the last bullfighter to be killed at La Monumental in 1974, belongs to a generation of strong bullfighting tradition but believes some practices must change or even disappear.
    "Old traditions, my dear friends, are dying no matter how hard you try to resurrect them. Some things are just going to disappear at some point," the 62-year-old said.
    Barcelona's other bullring Las Arenas, built in 1834 with a capacity for 16,000 people, celebrated its last performance in 1977 featuring one of Spain's top bullfighters, José Manuel 'Dominguín'.
    Located in a very busy area of the Catalan capital, it was renovated and transformed into a shopping mall and unveiled in March 2011.
    Some residents believed the arena has now been put into good use.
    "Personally I think this is a very good thing because it (bullfighting) is a brutal practice against animals. And I think it is not necessary," Tony, a Barcelona local, says.
    Many residents of the Catalan capital will not miss bullfighting and are happy to see the end of it in their city.
    "I think it is perfect. That is my opinion. I respect other's choice but I think it is just perfect that is it the last weekend," Maria Antonia says.
    Although bullfighting does not draw the same crowds that soccer does in Spain, the 'corrida' remains popular in places such as Seville, Madrid and Pamplona where packed annual festivals take place.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register