Entertainment

Spain: Last bullfight held in Barcelona

The final bullfight held in the Catalonia region in Barcelona before a ban on it.

28 September,2011 05:32 am

Spains top matador, Jose Tomas, was awarded two ears from the first of two bulls that he fought on Sunday during the final bullfight to be held in the Catalonia region.It was a day of high emotion in the separatist-inclined Catalan capital, Barcelona, Spains second city. All 20,000 seats in the historic La Monumental arena were sold out in advance and touts were charging 1,600 euros for tickets, three times the face value of the top price. The event marked an impassioned debate over bullfighting which has highlighted political, cultural and economic divisions in modern Spain.Fans, a number of whom had come from abroad, lamented the ban and said it was stifling tradition and peoples rights.But opponents celebrated the last day of death in the afternoon in Catalonia and said they would push their campaign for other regions to follow.The law banning bullfighting in autonomous Catalonia was passed by the regional parliament in July last year after a citizens petition. It comes into effect in January but Sunday was Barcelonas farewell as it is the end of the season.Though driven by animal rights activists, many commentators see it as part of Catalonias desire to distance itself from culture rooted elsewhere in Spain.Fans view the spectacle as a deadly art, and it has inspired artists such as painters Goya and Picasso and poet Federico Garcia Lorca.But critics say the bullfight, in which three matadors in turn face six half-tonne bulls in a ritual which ends with the animal being killed by a sword thrust, amounts to torture and has no place in a modern society.

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