Around 35 vociferous demonstrators, dressed mainly in black, held up placards featuring images of bloodied bulls and called for the abolition of bullfighting.
Guadalajara’s first prestigious bullfight of 2014 saw appearances by toreros Julian Lopez and Joselito Adame, two of the genre’s most well-known names. The season continues on the next two consecutive Sundays.
Organized by the NGO Igualdad Animal, the protest’s aim was to “familiarize people with the level of cruelty that the bulls suffer,” said spokesperson María José Lozano. “We know people who come to watch the bullfights are not bloodthirsty in themselves, but they fail to make the connection that the animal is a being that suffers.”Bullfighting has been around for thousands of years and has a long tradition in Mexico. Its supporters say the life of the bulls raised to flight is considerably better than cows raised for slaughter and consumption. Abolishing bullfighting would put many people out of work, and even threaten the existence of the bulls, as they are raised only for fighting.
The Catalonia region in Spain has outlawed bullfighting, as have seven municipalities in Mexico, six of them in the state of Veracruz.