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In the Madrid region, animal rights activists recently presented more than 50,000 signatures as part of a petition to force a similar debate and vote. However, there they face a tougher battle because the Madrid regional parliament is controlled by conservatives who responded to the growing anti-bullfighting momentum in Catalonia by declaring Spain's
'fiesta nacional' to be part of Madrid's cultural heritage. The first Spanish region to outlaw bullfighting was the Canary Islands, in 1991. But fights were never that popular there and when the ban took effect there had not been a bullfight for seven years. That makes the Catalonia vote a much more potent case, even if bullfighting is not as popular there as it is in Madrid or down south in Andalusia.
As debate got under way in Barcelona, protesters from both camps rallied outside the parliament building. Bullfighting opponents carried posters with gory pictures of bleeding animals. One man covered in fake red blood carried a sign in English, "Stop animal cruelty, No more blood." Pro-bullfighting groups carried signs painted on the red and yellow Catalan flag, with slogans such as Libertad y Toros (Freedom and Bulls). The two groups traded taunts and heckled each other.
[Associated
Press;
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