CATALONIA asserted its claim to independence last night by moving a step closer towards banning bullfighting, the Spanish national sport.

Deputies in the regional parliament voted in support of a motion to extend existing animal cruelty laws to include los toros. Until now, bullfighting was excluded from animal rights legislation.

The motion, backed by the left-wing Catalan nationalist Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya party was supported by 74 deputies, with 51 against, and now paves the way for an outright ban. The move comes days after voters in Catalonia backed overwhelmingly an autonomy deal to give the region more independence.

The campaign against what many see as a cruel facet of Spanish culture has intensified in recent years. Opponents of las corridas in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, had declared it an “an antibullfighting city” two years ago, after public protests and a petition signed by more than 250,000 people.

Another 22 Catalan towns followed the example of Barcelona.

But such declarations have no legal force. Bullrings can be closed only by a change of the law. Yolanda Llambrech, a spokeswoman for Esquerra Republicana De Catalunya, said: “This will go towards stopping the torture and death of bulls in Catalonia. We have very advanced laws on animal cruelty and it makes no sense that bullfighting is excluded.”

Apart from animal lovers, the motion also struck a chord among Catalan nationalists, who see bullfighting as an alien sport. Bullfighting is especially popular in southern Spain and in Madrid.

Paloma Marteries, a bullfighting journalist from the Spanish daily La Razon, said: “This will do nothing to diminish the popularity of bullfighting in Spain, where it is part of the cultural tradition.”

The Catalan motion does not extend to other spectacles involving bulls, such as “corre bou”, where the public chase bulls through the streets and “bouembolat”, which involves putting lighted fires on the bulls’ horns.

According to a survey conducted by the animal protection group Adda, 71 per cent of Catalans are opposed to bullfights. Recently businessmen who put on bullfights have struggled to attract the same size of crowds in Barcelona as in other parts of Spain.

The minority who do support las corridas de toros have attacked legislative moves towards a ban.

It would be a cultural and intellectual loss if bullfights were banned,” said Luis Corrales, the director of Defensa de la Fiesta, an organisation set up to protect and promote bullfighting.

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