The Catalan parliament dealt the death blow to bullfighting in the region on Wednesday, outlawing the centuries-old spectacle for the first time on mainland Spain. The result of 68 in favour, 55 against the ban was expected, as Catalonia's parliament in December accepted a petition by citizens to stop bullfighting, as activists concerned about animal cruelty battled devotees of the Spanish tradition.
In the debate, some lawmakers cited the declining popularity of bullfighting in Spain, where fewer people go each year to the arena to watch toreros in their elaborate "suits of lights" engage enraged bulls at close range with red capes and swords. "There are some traditions that can't remain frozen in time as society changes. We don't have to ban everything, but the most degrading things should be banned," said Josep Rull, member of parliament for the Catalonian nationalist party (CiU).
Lawmakers denied the debate's outcome reflected separatist aspirations, but many Spaniards saw the vote as having more to do with Catalonia's drive to reduce Madrid's political influence over their region than with the protection of animals. Nine lawmakers abstained from voting in the debate in which animal activists concerned about the bull's suffering argued against those who revere bullfighting, celebrated by US Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway in the book "Death in the Afternoon".
Animal rights activists have pledged to spread the ban from the autonomy-minded region throughout the rest of the country, which would be difficult because some regions have passed laws protecting bullfighting as their heritage. Anti-bullfighting groups gathered signatures from 180,000 Catalans, which forced parliament to vote on the tradition, which dates back to 711, when the first bullfight took place in celebration for the crowning of King Alfonso VIII.
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