BARCELONA, Spain - Three top matadors killed six half-ton bulls on Sunday in the last bullfight held in Catalonia before a ban on the centuries-old tradition comes into effect in the northeastern Spanish region.

The sold-out crowd of 18,000 applauded and chanted "Freedom" throughout the bullfight at Barcelona's Monumental arena, the city's last active bullring which opened its doors in 1914.

Serafin Marin, a 28-year-old Catalan who is a fierce defender of the tradition, put his hand over his heart after he killed the last bull, a 570-kg beast named "Dudalegre".

The crowd later carried all three matadors who took part in the bullfight on their shoulders out of the arena to the applause of onlookers.

"For a city like Barcelona to close this arena is like throwing a Picasso painting into the garbage," said 68-year-old Cristobal, who declined to give his last name, before taking his seat at the Monumental for the bullfight.

Catalonia's regional parliament voted in July 2010 to ban bullfighting after animal rights groups managed to garner 180,000 signatures for a petition demanding the debate. The ban will take effect on Jan 1, 2012.

It was the first region in mainland Spain to ban the tradition. While the move fueled the debate across the country over bullfighting, there is little sign that any other Spanish region is poised to follow Catalonia's example.

Spain's Canary Islands banned bullfighting in 1991.

Marin and other critics say the move was as much about Catalonia, which has its own language and where many seek independence from Spain, underlining its regional identity as an issue of animal rights.

They point out that other festivals, including one in which flaming torches are attached to the horns of a bull, which is then pursued through the streets, will survive the new regime.

"This is a political law made for nationalistic motives: those that want an independent Catalonia want to cut everything that smells of Spain," said Marin, who wore a cape that featured the colors of the Catalan flag in the ring.

He plans to continue fighting bulls in arenas in other parts of Spain and in France.

"I feel bad about it, sad. They take away all your past and part of your future. I have been banned from carrying out my profession," he said.

Tickets for the final bullfight at the Monumental arena cost between 24 euros and 135 euros ($32 and $182), but scalpers were offering them at six times the cost outside the arena before the start of the bullfight.

The first matador to enter the arena was Juan Mora, who wore a green and gold suit, followed by Jose Tomas, who wore a black suit in a sign of protest against the end of bullfighting in Catalonia.

Marin was the last to perform, to grant him his wish of going down in history as the matador who killed the last bull at the Monumental arena.

"We have won a battle but not the war. We will continue to work for animal rights in Spain, Catalonia and elsewhere," said Helena Escoda, member of the rights group Prou, Catalan for "enough", which fought for the ban.

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 09/27/2011 page10)