About 200 people demonstrate in Palma against bullfighting and demand to prohibit the entry of minors

PalmaAbout 200 people demonstrated this Thursday afternoon in front of the bullring in Palma against bullfighting, coinciding with the celebration of a bullfight. The protest, called by Satya Animal and other animal rights organizations, has particularly focused on the possibility of minors being able to access bullfighting events in the Balearic Islands.

The mobilization was called by Satya Animal with the support of Progreso en Verde, Mallorca Against Bullfighting, the Franz Weber Foundation, and PETA, with the aim of protesting against the celebration of the bullfight. During the gathering, a performance was held in which a bull and a bullfighter swapped roles, an action with which the organizations wanted to denounce the violence associated, from their perspective, with bullfighting events.

The focus, on minors' access

One of the main reasons for denunciation by animal rights organizations is that the entry of minors into bullrings is permitted in the Balearic Islands. Satya Animal considers that exposing children and adolescents to a spectacle it describes as «violent and bloody» can have consequences on their moral and emotional integrity. The entity argues that there is a broad social rejection of bullfighting understood as a cultural or artistic expression and defines it as «the sadistic torture of an animal live». This is, in any case, the assessment of the entities organizing the protest.

Satya Animal has also criticized the role of public administrations and has assured that, in its opinion, without institutional support these spectacles «would no longer be possible» in the Balearic Islands. The organizing organizations thus demand a change in the treatment of bullfighting and, especially, measures to prevent minors from accessing bullrings. The protest has taken place coinciding with the celebration of the bullfight scheduled for this Thursday in Palma.