• PACMA, Jerez anti-bullfighting group protest return of matador José Tomás
• Protesters decry ‘barbaric spectacle’ as torture in the name of art & culture
An estimated 200 protesters from across Andalusia and other parts of Spain convened by the Partido Animalista (PACMA) and the Colectivo Antitaurino Jerez (Jerez Anti-Bullfighting Collective) gathered outside the Jerez bullring on Saturday to protest what they say amounts to animal “torture” in the name of culture and sport.
Amid jeers from bullfighting fans gathered outside the bullring, the protesters called for an end to the breeding of bulls specifically to supply the bullfighting industry with animals that are killed in the name of art, wth a PACMA spokesman calling bullfighting “a barbaric spectacle that should be part of our past, not our future.”
While outside the bullring the demonstrators held signs protesting that “Torture is not Art nor Culture” and “Art Creates, it Does not Destroy,” inside the ring the return to Spanish bullfighting of matador José Tomás was watched by an estimated 9,000 spectators, among which were a notable number of Spain and Europe’s rich and famous, including Spanish television stars, musicians, writers, artists, former King Juan Carlos and his daughter Cristina de Borbon — and, reportedly, even ex-Irish rocker Sir Bob Geldof.
► Read More in Spanish at Andalucia Información and La Voz del Sur …
► Read More in English at EuroWeekly News …
