Spain bans 'dwarf bullfighting', surviving performers oppose move
Dwarf bullfighters stage a protest in front of parliament in Madrid, Spain.
The Spanish parliament on Thursday (April 27) banned bullfighting events featuring dwarves dressed in costumes. The move was welcomed by disability groups but opposed by a few surviving performers. According to a report by the news agency AFP early Friday, the law approved in Parliament prohibits shows or recreational activities in which people with disabilities, or this circumstance, are used to provoke mockery or ridicule from the public. The law aligns Spain with the European Union (EU) directives on discrimination against disabled people.
For years, groups of people with dwarfism dressed as clowns or firefighters have entertained audiences by chasing bulls without killing them, in shows considered humorous.
Spain's Royal Board on Disabilities, which advises the social rights ministry, said on Thursdaythat the government advanced human rights by banning public shows that humiliated disabled people.
Jesus Martin, the board's director general, said that such shows "passed the idea to so many girls and boys who go with adults to see these shameful performances that it is ok to laugh at difference".
Performers oppose ban
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The surviving dwarf "toreros" (bullfighters) opposed the government's ban on dwarf bullfighting shows. The performers said that without the shows, their livelihoods are at stake. Amusement in the Arena, a group of dwarf bullfighters, posted on Facebook, "We are bullfighters, we are artists, enough prohibitions, we don't want handouts."
On Thursday, the performers staged a protest in front of the Spanish parliament ahead of the vote to express their condemnation of the ban.
Daniel Calderón, a dwarf bullfighter, told the EFE news agency that authorities take it for granted "that people are being denigrated or laughed at, and it’s the opposite: the respect they have for us is impressive."
(With inputs from agencies)
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