Nearly 200 activists from a dozen animal associations and parties symbolically embodied a bullfight with humans in Paris this Saturday, to demand the abolition of this practice in France.
A bill to this effect, tabled by MP Aymeric Caron of the Ecological Revolution for Living (REV) party affiliated with LFI, must be examined Thursday in the Assembly.
Conversely, hundreds of people demonstrated in several towns in Sid such as Dax, Bayonne, Auch or Béziers, to say "
yes to bullfighting
".
In Paris, the demonstrators gathered in an arc symbolizing an arena, on the Place du Châtelet, asked to "
relegate the bullfighting arenas to the oblivion of history
".
Four activists carrying horns crouching headlong flanked a young woman disguised as a bullfighter and carrying real banderillas, used to weaken bulls before they were killed.
Criticizing the cultural or ecological issues put forward by the defenders of this activity permitted by derogation in three regions, PACA, Occitanie and New Aquitaine, the demonstrators shouted "
death is not a tradition, we want abolition
".
"
The laws should be the same throughout the territory, it is not a minority that must impose its opinion on the majority
," said Marie-Anne Leneveu, of the Radical Anti-Bullfighting Committee (CRAC).
Read alsoCorrida: how are fighting bulls bred?
"
Killing should not be a spectacle
" exclaimed Valérie, an activist from Béziers, while Amandine Sanvisens, from the Paris Animals Zoopolis association, originally from Toulouse, spoke out against the "
shameful
" arguments of elected officials from the south-west that evoke "
rurality
" or a "
spirit of the south
" to justify the maintenance of bullfights.
"
Cowards and sadists who create confusion between love and violence
" according to her.
MP Aymeric Caron appealed especially to Renaissance MPs to vote in their soul and conscience.
"
The cause of animal rights linked to the cause of the living can no longer be evaded, whatever happens on Thursday, it will not be an end, it will be a beginning
," he declared.
Another MP present, Danielle Simonnet (LFI, Paris) also appealed to the majority of MPs who voted last year in favor of banning live animals in circuses.
“
And a show depicting animal suffering like bullfighting would still be allowed?
she exclaimed, asking for "
republican legality throughout the territory
".
Identical demonstrations take place on Saturday in 40 other cities, recalled Aymeric Caron.
"Leave us alone"
In Dax (Landes), 800 people according to the police (1,500 according to the organizers), including many elected officials from all sides and members of local peñas (bullfighting associations), marched in the rain against the approach of "
a Parisian deputy bobo disinterested in our local identities
”, in the words of mayor Julien Dubois (right).
"
It is not bullfighting that is attacked, it is the whole of the diversity, the cultural richness of our regions (...), that is why we must not let go of anything
", insisted the mayor of Mont-de-Marsan, Charles Dayot, during another demonstration which brought together around 300 people in front of the Landes prefecture.
Read alsoCorrida: in the Assembly, the ban on bullfighting is far from unanimous
According to the mayor of Saint-Perdon (1700 inhabitants) Jean-Louis Darrieutort, “
bullfighting maintains a real social, intergenerational link in the villages
” and constitutes an economic sector, from breeding to the organization of festivals.
They were also 250 in Auch (Gers), including the deputies Jean-René Cazeneuve (Renaissance) and David Taupiac (PS), gathered in front of the statue of d'Artagnan.
“
The targeted attacks on bullfighting also relate to hunting, force-feeding and tomorrow perhaps alcohol
,” castigated Michel Baylac, president of the Association of Mayors of France in the Gers.
Further east, in Béziers, a pro-bullfighting rally brought together dozens of people, in the presence of Mayor Robert Ménard and MP Emmanuelle Ménard, his wife.
"
Leave us alone
", asked Bernard Mula, president of the Biterrois bullfighting clubs, addressing in particular Aymeric Caron, described as "
great defender of mosquitoes and rats
", according to an AFP photographer on square.
Pro-bullfighting demonstrators hold signs reading "The bull, our culture" during a demonstration in Béziers, November 19, 2022. -
SYLVAIN THOMAS / AFP
In Bayonne, around 350 people gathered in front of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques sub-prefecture, including the French bullfighter Julien Lescarret who denounced "
an obscurantism of the extremes
".
"
This is the first time that the problem has been raised in the National Assembly so we had to react
," said Olivier Baratchart, director of local arenas.
Pro-bullfighting rallies were planned in other “
bullfighting
” cities such as Pau, Nîmes or Perpignan.
Forty anti-bullfighting demonstrations are planned this weekend in France according to their organizers.