Since we recently had an exchange about the Catalonian ban on bullfighting,
I thought that this account of a bull fighting back might be of interest.
Ironically this was not a regular bullfight but rather a macho game of bull
dodging. Sort of the opposite of a Portuguese bullfight, where the bull
charges into a row of young men who try to wrestle it to the ground (the
horns are covered with wood, but the bull can still do a lot of damage).
Raging bull rams spectators in Spain
AFP AUGUST 19, 2010 7:20 AM
A bull leaps out of the arena at a bullring in Tafalla near Pamplona,
northern Spain on August 18, 2010, and charged into a crowd of terrified
spectators. Some 30 people were injured.
Three people, including a 10-year-old boy, remained in hospital Thursday
with injuries suffered when a bull charged into a crowd of terrified
spectators at a bullring in Spain, local authorities said.
Spanish television showed dramatic images of screaming spectators, including
children, frantically trying to avoid the rampaging animal after it leapt
several metres (yards) over a security barrier and then clambered over a
fence and into the crowded stands Wednesday evening.
The animal stumbled around the stands before falling down several steps,
crushing more people, at the bullring in the town of Tafalla, in the
northern Navarra region.
Several employees of the bullring finally managed to get a rope around the
bull after about 15 minutes, and it was killed and removed by a crane.
The Navarra regional government said 32 people were treated at hospitals and
clinics. Most suffered minor injuries such as bruising and were released,
but three remained hospitalized Thursday.
A 10-year-old boy was in serious but stable condition with "abdominal
trauma" after the bull fell on him, it said in a statement.
A 23-year-old woman was being treated for a crushed vertebrae, and a
47-year-old man for wounds suffered when he was gored in the lower back.
Both were in stable condition.
In addition to the 32, "several more" suffered shock or minor scratches and
bruises, the statement said.
The incident did not take place during a traditional bullfight but during a
contest of "recortadores", in which participants try to dodge the bull while
staying as close to it as possible.
The bull, named Quesero, had already twice tried to jump the barrier during
the event, breaking one of its horns, and was about to be removed from the
arena when it launched itself into the crowd.
"I was terrified. I ran out of the stadium, crying," one young woman told
the television of the neighbouring Basque region.
Another young woman said, "people started to fall over each other . . . Then
I couldn't find my friends, what happened was awful."
"I have never felt so afraid. I'm still shaking," one of those injured told
the ABC newspaper.
"The bull had already made a few attempts, but I was relatively calm. And
suddenly, I saw that the animal had jumped and, after staying stuck on the
fence for a few seconds, it came over. Then there was chaos . . . There was
stomping, pushing, shrieks, blows."
The Navarra government said most of the spectators were young people who
were able to react in time to avoid the bull, or the number of casualties
could have been far higher.
Such incidents are very unusual at bullfights. Although the animals
occasionally manage to leap the security barrier they very rarely get into
the stands.
Wednesday's incident came amid intense debate in Spain over the
centuries-old tradition of bullfighting.
The northeastern region of Catalonia last month became the first part of
mainland Spain to ban the practice, which animal activists condemn as a form
of torture and others see as part of the country's cultural heritage.
In a recent opinion poll, 60 per cent of Spaniards said they do not approve
of the spectacle, which ends with the death of the bull from a well-placed
sword.
Navarra, where Tafalla is located, is famous for the traditional "running of
the bulls" in the regional capital of Pamplona.
Dozens of people are injured each year when the runners try to outrace bulls
which charge through the old town's narrow streets to a bullring where a
bullfight is staged.
© Copyright (c) AFP
