Judges say Spanish state has responsibility for cultural heritage and Catalan parliament has exceeded its authority

Spain’s constitutional court has overturned Catalonia’s controversial ban on bullfighting, imposed by the regional government in 2010.



Nine of the 12 judges ruled that the “preservation of common cultural heritage” was the responsibility of the state and the Catalan parliament had exceeded its authority in banning what the court described in a statement as “one more expression of a cultural nature that forms part of the common cultural heritage”.



The court conceded that Catalonia could “regulate the development of bullfights” or “establish requirements for the special care and attention of fighting bulls”.

The ruling prompted outrage in Catalonia. Neus Munté, spokeswoman for the Catalan government, said her government would “set to work immediately to ensure that the ruling has no practical effect”.

The Barcelona mayor, Ada Colau, tweeted: “Barcelona has been an anti-bullfighting city since 2004. Whatever the court says, the Catalan capital will not allow animals to be mistreated.”

In a written statement, Josep Rull, the Catalan minister for public works, said: “The constitutional court can decide what they want, but we have already decided that there will be no bullfights in Catalonia. The government of Catalonia will make every effort for bullfights not to return to our country. We want a country where it is not possible to make a public spectacle of death and suffering to an animal. This is what we decided at the time in Catalonia and is unalterable for us.”

Rull added that when the Canary Islands introduced a similar ban the constitutional court took no action. However, the new ruling may affect bans in place in Valencia, Mallorca and San Sebastián.

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Ana Bayle of the local Animal Rights party accused the court of “playing politics with animals’ lives” while Marta Esteban, from the group Torture isn’t Culture, insisted that “bullfighting is not going to return to Catalonia”.

Though the ban enjoys wide popular and political support in the region, critics have long insisted that it is more anti-Spanish than it is pro-animal rights. They point to a loophole in the Catalan law that exempts the traditional correbous – festivals where bulls are pursued, often with flaming torches attached to their horns – from the ban. Animal rights activists claim that, although the bulls aren’t killed, the correbous are nevertheless cruel.

Esperanza Aguirre, former president of the Madrid region, tweeted: “Bulls return to Catalonia. Millions of Spanish and international fans celebrate the decision.”

But in an online poll of some 35,000 readers of the Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia, more than 68% said they opposed the ruling.

