Hundreds of anti-bull fighting protestors stage a dramatic rally in Mexico City 1 Favorite 

By Jill Reilly, The Daily Mail, UK


Hundreds of animals rights protestors covered themselves in fake blood and lay on the ground in a demonstration against bull fighting in Mexico City. An estimated 250 people took part in Saturday's protest, taping imitation barbed darts that bull fighters use against the animals onto their bodies. The protestors were from AnimaNaturalis, an animal rights group who were demonstrating on the eve of the bull fighting season outside Mexico City’s Fine Arts Palace.

'Youths from all the states of Mexico, covered with blood and with ‘banderillas’ sticking in them showcased with this demonstration the suffering that the bulls are subjected to in the bullfights,' said Leonora Esquivel, one of the leaders reported Latin American Herald Tribune. 

The protest was designed to support the bill of Congressman Cristian Vargas, who proposed banning bull fighting in Mexico in December. Curious onlookers stood and watched the protestors standing in the heat and imitating bulls as they die in the ring. The animal rights activists said they would like to see the activity abolished throughout the country where more than 70 percent of the residents are against it. 

Supporters of bullfighting argue that it is a culturally important tradition and an art form, but animal rights advocates believe that it is a blood sport resulting in the suffering of bulls. Bull fighting only remains legal in eight countries - Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Spain, southern France and Portugal. Ms Esquivel said in Mexico bull fighting has not been ruled against in a one single town or city where bullfighting has been outlawed, but in other countries, including Spain where it is very popular, it has been banned in certain areas.

'In Mexico there are even schools to teach how to torture the bulls and we even have the youngest bullfighter in the world,' Esquivel told the Latin American Herald Tribune. Another of the campaign’s organisers, Israel Arreola said: 'Nothing justifies the torture, humiliation and death that (are inflicted) on these animals against their will.' 

Congressman Vargas introduced a bill in December to prohibit bull fighting, and animals rights' groups are working to demonstrate their support for the bill publicly.
The organizations are calling for a consultation with the citizenry to 'state the rejection of bullfighting among the greater part of the population,' animal rights activists said in a statement.