SPAIN: Bullfighting outlawed in Catalonia

Record ID: 376346

  • Title: SPAIN: Bullfighting outlawed in Catalonia
  • Date: 29th July 2010
  • Summary: BARCELONA, SPAIN (JULY 28, 2010) (REUTERS) ANTI BULLFIGHT DEMONSTRATORS OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT CLAPPING / WOMAN ON THE FLOOR WITH FAKE BLOOD ON WOMAN ON THE FLOOR DEMONSTRATORS CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST, SAYING: "We are very happy that reason and compassion won against barbarism. We have been working for many years towards this. Th
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA8FCMI1BDEL3Y1PPKUW1WB1PC
  • Story Text: Lawmakers deliver death blow to bullfighting in Catalonia, outlawing the centuries-old blood sport for the first time in a mainland region of Spain.
    Lawmakers delivered the death blow to bullfighting in Catalonia on Wednesday (July 28), outlawing the centuries-old blood sport for the first time in a mainland region of Spain.
    The result of 68 in favour, 55 against the prohibition was expected, since the Catalonian parliament had cast preliminary votes in December accepting a citizens' petition to outlaw
    bullfighting on the grounds that it was cruelty to animals.
    There were nine abstentions.
    In their debate, lawmakers cited the declining popularity of bullfighting in Spain, where fewer and fewer people go each year to arenas to watch toreros wield capes and swords against enraged animals.
    Animal rights activists outside the parliament erupted into cheers as the motion was passed.
    Opponents say bullfighting involves gratuitous animal suffering that has no place in a modern society.
    One activist said it was a triumph over a barbaric sport.
    "We are very happy that reason and compassion won against barbarism. We have been working for many years towards this. This is a triumph for the people of Catalonia," she said.
    Bullfight supporters outside parliament shouted "traitors" and said the ban was nothing more than provocation from a region where many want independence from Spain.
    "They don't want to be Spanish. They don't want to be Spanish because we are in Catalonia. Because of a minority which is called "Izquiuerda Republicana" (Republican Left) and they are asking back for all the favours they gave the Socialist government," said one man.
    Under the ban, which would come into effect in 2012, the last active bullring in Catalonia's capital, Barcelona, would shut down as would the remaining few elsewhere in the region.
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