The end of bull-fighting in Barcelona’s ‘Monumental’?

Deputy mayor wants to develop site as open-air market

Barcelona to be left without bullfights | Spain's second-biggest city Barcelona will be left without bullfights from 2008 onwards, the daily El Pais reported Friday. The company managing the 93-year-old Monumental bullring will close it over financial losses of more than 24,000 euros (31,500 dollars) per bullfight.

The region of Catalonia is known for its critical attitude towards the "national spectacle" the rest of Spain takes pride in, but the decision to close the bullring was taken by the company without interference from the city council, according to El Pais.
Deputy Mayor Jordi Portabella wants to convert the bullring into an open-air market.

The Barcelona city council adopted a motion expressing its opposition to bullfights in 2004. More than 20 Catalan municipalities have declared themselves "anti-bullfight," often closing their bullrings.

Polls show that over 70 per cent of Catalans back the abolition of the spectacle, said Manuel Cases of the animal rights association Adda, which regards bullfights as torture.

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