The long and acrimonious debate surrounding the festivities with bulls in the Terres de l'Ebre is being reopened following the proposed law by En Comú Podem and the CUP to try to ban the three "most aggressive" modalities with animals: the bull emboled (of fire), the one slain and in the sea, already extinct. They accounted for more than 40% of the 469 bullfighting events of 2022 in the Ebranque regions and animalists maintain that the bulls suffer mistreatment, mainly stress, but also physical injuries.
The box of thrones was officially opened yesterday at noon after the majority of deputies aborted the PP and Vox amendments, with the support of Ciutadans, to slow down the processing of the law (19 votes in favor, 29 against and 82 abstentions ). They wanted to overturn the legislative initiative before opening the debate and reaching the vote, already in 2024.
The fans of this controversial tradition, rooted in 28 of the 52 municipalities in three of the four Ebre regions (Montsià, Baix Ebre and Terra Alta), feel once again under attack from outside the Terres de l'Ebre. The feeling of interference and lack of respect is the majority in the south of Catalonia, even from a part of those who will never go to see a party with bulls. A social minority also opposes the correbous from the south of Catalonia, where the subject is taboo and a losing card for parties with aspirations to govern.
Commons and cupaires, with few seats in the Terres de l'Ebre, have decided to bring to the parliamentary debate a demand that animal organizations have been calling for for more than twenty years.
The anti-bullfighters have played physical to film the festivities with bulls on the ground, always without death or intentional injuries to the animal. The animalists, almost always arriving from outside the Terres de l'Ebre, have suffered insults, contempt and even a double physical attack on two of them in a square in Mas de Barberans (Montsià), in 2016. then opened the most tense period between supporters and detractors of the festivities, with even the timely deployment of the Mossos in the squares.
The tension is back after a period of calm, with bullfighters aware that they could not attack animalists who mainly go to capture images of bulls tied up to present complaints of irregularities and alleged abuse if they wanted to preserve the tradition. The processing of the bill upsets the plans of the bullrings. "Having reached this far is a first victory; we managed to start a process in Parliament that the bullfighting sector wanted to avoid at all costs", says Aïda Gascón, head of the anti-bullfighting.
The abolition initiative generates discomfort and internal discrepancies in ERC, Junts and PSC. The majority of its deputies abstained in the vote. Republicans and board members justified their position, negative for their political interests in the Terres de l'Ebre, by the need to open a debate that does take into account the territory where bulls and cows are celebrated.
"We want to listen to everyone and get to know everyone's arguments," said Ester Vallès (Junts). "We will work with the people of the Terres de l'Ebre in the debate, with the elected representatives and the entities," says Juli Fernández (ERC).
The mayor of Batea (Terra Alta), Joaquim Paladella (PSC), the only one of the deputies who intervened yesterday at the lectern which is from L'Ebre, advocated opening a "respectful" debate and launched a message against of the interventions. "We don't need anyone to protect us", he emphasized, although he pledged "to make efforts to improve and guarantee the rights of animals".
