Since the announcement of the return of bullfighting to the arenas of Pérols (Hérault), when no bull had been put to death there for at least twenty years, the associations have seen red. Saturday (12 p.m.), several structures fighting for the protection of animals, including the Animalist Party, the Radically Anti-Bullfighting Committee (Crac), Flac (Federation of Struggles for the Abolition of Bullfights), Peta France or One Voice , organize a demonstration on the place Georges-Brassens, in the commune.
The Crac also announces that MEP Caroline Roose (EELV) will be present on Saturday. The anti-bullfighting activists “will then head to the tram terminus to make passers-by going to the beaches aware of the unworthy project in preparation in the municipal arenas of Pérols”, indicates the Crac, in a press release.
Several associations have taken legal action
In February, Jean-Pierre Rico (New Center), the mayor of Pérols, announced that a novillada, which pits young bulls against young bullfighters, would take place on July 15 in the arenas of this town in the metropolis of Montpelier. For more than twenty years no bull had been killed there. For the associations, it is illegal: the tradition having been interrupted, according to the law, no corrida can be organized.
But case law could also work in favor of defenders of bullfighting. Justice has several times ruled on the legality of bullfights, because the tradition can also be seen more broadly to a region for example, and not in the strict sense of the municipality. Moreover, case law stipulates that, even if there has not been bullfighting for a long time in this village, the simple fact that this culture exists, and that it is shared by a large number of inhabitants is sufficient to justify of an “interrupted local tradition”. Several anti-bullfighting associations have appealed to the administrative court to have this bullfighting event banned.