About two thousand animal rights activists marched to Madrid’s Las Ventas bullring on Saturday, calling for a ban on bullfights in Spain.
Bullfighting has struggled for survival in recent decades, and although the big festivals still draw crowds, public interest in watching bulls being killed has gone down considerably.
“For me, bullfighting doesn’t represent the culture of our country. It’s suffering, torture, it’s not natural, and it’s out of place,” Josean Vega, a 41-year-old salesman, told Reuters.
Another protester, 44-year-old Raul, agreed, adding that the demonstrators don’t want bullfighting “to stand the test of time.”
A 2020 poll published by the survey company Electomania, found that 47% of Spanish people backed banning bullfighting, and 37% opposed bullfighting but did not want it to be banned.