Anti-bullfight activists in Rome arrested in front of pope's vehicle
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Security forces whisked the women away, as another woman behind the barricade wielded a similar sign saying “bullfighting is a sin” in Spanish.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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ROME - Four animal activists were arrested in Rome on Dec 9 after throwing themselves in the path of a car carrying Pope Francis, yelling “bullfighting is a sin”, animal rights group Peta said.
Video footage provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals showed three women jumping over a barricade and kneeling in the path of the approaching white Fiat carrying the pope as they raised signs in the air.
Security forces quickly whisked the women away, as another woman behind the barricade wielded a similar sign saying “bullfighting is a sin” in Spanish, the video showed.
The incident occurred as Pope Francis, 87, was on his way towards Rome’s Spanish Steps to bless a nearby statue of the Virgin Mary on the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception.
In a statement, Peta said the action was part of a campaign “urging the Pope to sever the Catholic Church’s ties to bullfighting and condemn this despicable blood sport”.
Most recently, anti-bullfighting activists protested in front of the pope’s vehicle during a visit to Luxembourg in September, while activists interrupted a church service in in Rome presided over by Francis to protest the practice.
Mimi Bekhechi, Peta’s vice president for Europe, called it a “disgrace” that the Church continued to support the “killing and mutilation of bulls”.
“Peta calls on Pope Francis to denounce these shameful spectacles and make it clear once and for all that no person of good will can support bullfighting,” she said.
The group said bullfights – where the bull is teased and repeatedly stabbed before finally being killed – are often held in honour of Catholic saints, including the Virgin Mary, with priests performing religious rites during bullfights.
Peta also noted that Francis wrote in his encyclical 2015 “Laudato Si” – a papal letter sent to all bishops – on the environment that ill-treating animals was “contrary to human dignity”.
Bullfighting is practiced in Spain, France, Portugal, Venezuela, Mexico, Peru and Ecuador.
Colombia banned the bloody sport in May, while a bill in France to ban children under 16 from attending failed to pass the upper house of parliament last month. AFP
