Spanish govt to appeal "no blood" bullfight law

Spanish culture secretary Fernando Benzo confirmed Tuesday that the Spanish government would launch an appeal at the Constitutional Court to overturn the new "bloodless" bullfighting law, which was approved in the regional parliament of the Balearic Islands on Monday.

The central government of Mariano Rajoy's right-wing People's Party will base their appeal on the belief that the new law, which was passed with the support of the Spanish Socialist Party, Podemos and the Balearic Island regional party, Mes Mallorca, invades the area of responsibility of the Spanish central government.

The PP and the center-right formation Ciudadanos had voted against the new law, which not only forbids a bull's death in the bullring, but also prohibits any "physical or psychological damage to the animal."

The new law prohibits the use of "banderillas (short spears which are stabbed into the bull's back), lances, knives or swords," while limiting the time a bull is in the ring to a maximum of 10 minutes and raising the minimum age for attending a bullfight from 16 to 18.

In a traditional bullfight, six bulls are killed by stabbing with a sword following a ritual in which they are previously weakened by being first stabbed in the shoulders by a lance carried by a horse riding "Picador" and then by six banderillas.

Bullfighting has already been banned completely in the Catalan region of north-eastern Spain and also in the Canary Islands. The practice is the subject of bitter controversy between those who say it is a Spanish cultural tradition and those who consider it a cruel aberration which has no place in a modern nation.