Bullfighting fans commemorate international day amid animal rights activists protest

Around 150 bullfighting fans commemorated the International Bullfighting Day at Barcelona's La Monumental bullring on Thursday, with around 75 animal rights activists protesting outside the venue throughout.

The event started at 5:30 pm and saw moments of tension outside before it began, as protesters and bullfighting fans confronted one another before the event started. 

May 16 marks International Bullfighting Day, and to celebrate the feat, Catalonia's Bullfighting Federation organized an event at one of the most important sites for the activity that is considered in Spain as a tradition: La Monumental bullring on Gran Via de les Corts avenue.

Coinciding with this day, animal rights activists demonstrated outside the building, chanting, "We will not stop until the activity is abolished."

The last fight in Catalonia took place on September 25, 2011, with 20,000 spectators present and some of Spain's biggest 'toreadores': José Tomás, Juan Mora, and Serafín Marín.

Since then, there have been no more bullfights in Catalonia since the Catalan parliament banned them from January 1, 2012, after a citizen's initiative signed by 180,000 people led to a parliamentary debate and a vote in favor of an abolition.

However, in 2016, Spain's Constitutional Court overturned the ban, deciding that bullfighting is part of the Spanish cultural heritage and, therefore, could not be banned regionally.

"We consider that this event is a provocation; there is no room for this kind of acts that want to consolidate this culture that does not represent us nor Catalonia, and in fact, we consider it is a desperate measure of the bullfighting fans," Iván Guijarro, spokesperson for the PACMA animal rights and pro-environmental policies party, said to Catalan News in front of La Monumental.

On a similar note, Barcelona Animal Save organization leader Delfina Toso ironically considered the event inside the La Monumental "a celebration of how cool bullfighting is," something which, for her, is just a way of "exploiting animals."

Her only hope is that "the people attending the event are quite old, so maybe younger generations are more aware of what is happening with animals and how we are exploiting them," she told this media outlet.

Bullfighting celebration 

Inside La Monumental, representatives from various bullfighting groups and associations from various parts of Catalonia gave speeches to the crowd about their memories and experiences of the activity. 

Children performed choreographed bull movements, acting as the animal and the bullfighter evading them with the traditional cape.

Among the speakers was Manuel Titos Rodríguez, the secretary of the newly-formed Catalan Bull Union, which has gathered 45 members in its first three weeks since its establishing. 

"I felt excitement in my heart coming here because I came here a lot as a child with my grandfather, who was a bullfighter," Titos Rodríguez told Catalan News.

"For us, [bullfighting] is culture, more and more we have that feeling," he explained.

He believes that the future of bullfighting in Catalonia is bright "thanks to the Bullfighting School of Catalonia." He says that "unfortunately" his group and other Catalan bullfighters cannot use La Monumental for their events, and explained that they organize events outside of Catalonia.

Speaking about the protesters outside the venue, he asserted that the activists think that bullfighting is "finishing, but it’s not." He explained to Catalan News that bullfighting is in good health although "many fans keep their head down out of fear for the protests we saw outside."

He pointed to events in Madrid selling out, and the popularity in other countries such as Venezuela, Mexico, and Colombia, to assert that "bullfighting is more alive than ever."

Correbous in Catalonia

While bullfighting was banned in Parliament, correbous, or bull races, were not part of such law.

This is a Catalan tradition that mainly takes place in southern Catalonia: Terres de l'Ebre, where there are different versions of the races.

One involves attaching fireworks to the bull's horns as it runs, and the other shows a bull tied with ropes around its horns to guide it as it runs through the streets.

The Catalan interior department gave permission for 702 'correbous' festivals in the last 15 years, with most of them lasting for more than one day, resulting in 2,985 days of bull-related events. Over 80%, 602 out of 702, featured 'bous capllaçats' or 'bous embolats'.

Although less bloody, animal rights activists still demand its abolition as they consider the event cruel, while supporters say that animals do not suffer.

The Catalan parliament greenlighted debating on such a topic, however, the proposed ban on almost 80% of these bull-related events in Catalonia did not become a reality.

It had long been debated in the chamber, but the future was halted when a snap election was called for May 12.

Filling the Sink podcast episode

In September 2023, new animal welfare legislation came into effect across Spain with increased fines for abuse and new obligations for pet owners, but it hasn’t been without controversy. 

An exemption for hunting dogs divided public opinion and the coalition government, while bullfighting continues to enjoy protected legal status as "cultural heritage."

Listen to our Filling the Sink podcast episode to learn more about the new law.