Court backs bull fights

Spain’s top court has overruled a local ban against bullfighting in the powerful north-eastern region of Catalonia, saying it goes against a national law protecting the spectacle.

The Constitutional Court ruled that Catalan authorities generally could regulate suchpublic spectacles, and even ban them, but in this case the national parliament’s ruling that bullfighting is part of Spain’s heritage must prevail.

Catalonia stirred controversy when it banned bullfighting in 2010, becoming Spain’s second region to do so after the Canary Islands in 1991.

The decision was part of themovementagainst bullfighting but it was also seen as another step in the Catalan government’s push to break away from Spain.