PAN slams parliament for rejecting its bullfighting proposals
Political party PAN (People, Animals, Nature) has announced plans to launch a public petition calling for a referendum on the abolishment of bullfighting.
The announcement was made on the same day that proposals by the party to launch a referendum and ban those under 16 from attending bullfights were rejected in Parliament.
“Parliament did not have the courage to put itself on the right side of history, but we know that we have the strength and ambition of civil society on our side, which defends animal rights,” the party’s spokesperson Inês de Sousa Real says in a statement.
Sousa Real adds that the interests of “children and young people” were not taken into account by parliament, which “opted to continue leaving them exposed to the violence of this inhuman practice.”
According to the MP, “Portugal continues to go against the recommendations of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, which has already urged the country twice to keep children and young people away from bullfighting.”
The referendum supported by PAN was rejected in this Friday morning’s vote by Chega, CDS-PP, Iniciativa Liberal, PSD, PS, and PCP, with only BE and Livre backing it, and three Socialist deputies abstaining.
Meanwhile, a bill proposed by PAN to ban those under 16 from attending and participating in bullfighting events, was rejected with votes against from Chega, CDS-PP, PSD, PCP, and 17 PS deputies, while Iniciativa Liberal abstained. Votes in favour came from PS, BE, PAN, and Livre.
