The Franz Weber Foundation denounces the accident of a teenage bullfighter during a competition in Molina with children

Last September 29 was a dark day in the career of young bullfighter David Pardo. The boy was doing an exhibition at the I Competition of Bullfighting Promises in Molina de Segura (Murcia), when while trying to cut some flags he suffered a cut to the thigh which sent him directly to the hospital with a serious injury . This accident has once again triggered the indignation of anti-bullfighting groups, including the NGO Franz Weber Foundation, which is protesting against the fact that there were minors present in this show.

Following this event, this organization transferred a request to the Child Protection Office of the Government of the Region of Murcia. In this request, the organization calls for “a clear position concerning the direct participation of minors in bullfighting events, as well as their access to the visualization of contexts of violence”.

The aforementioned NGO assures that this type of act “would be not having responded to the objections made by the Committee on the Rights of the Child” of the United Nations. For this reason, one of its spokespersons explains to EL ESPAÑOL that “Murcia could prohibit the presence of minors in this type of shows, in which not only are the animals mistreated, but they can give rise to to “images as bloody as those that circulated on the networks last Sunday in Molina de Segura.”

In a video published on [antes Twitter] According to an anti-bullfighting story, we can observe the moment when the young bullfighter injures his leg while trying to break the flag. “My God, there’s blood!”exclaims one of the spectators who was following the show.

Although the boy’s exact age is unknown, footage shows he is a teenager. The spokesperson for the Franz Weber Foundation indicates that “Participation in public performances of this type is legal from the age of 16. years. However, There are no restrictions that prevent children from being online.“.

“The main problem with accidents like that of last Sunday is that, far from making young people think, They tend to insist that they want to stay there“, as this organization’s spokesperson warned created in 1975 by the famous Swiss environmentalist Franz Weber.

Acceptance of young people

According to the Bullfighting Statistics published by the Ministry of Culture, in 2023, 28 bullfighting celebrations took place in the Region of Murcia. Throughout the country, 15.9% of bullfighting professionals are between 16 and 29 years oldmore than 1,700 people, and in 2022, 66% of young people between 15 and 19 years old rated their degree of satisfaction when attending a bullfight between a 9 and a 10. None of the respondents in this age group gave a failing grade.

This spokesperson for the Franz Weber Foundation emphasizes that these events “generally have incentives for parents to bring their childrensuch as reduced rates for minors. » In the case of the bullfighting show where the accident occurred, the NGO assures that the children who attended the show “could have accessed it for free”.

It is for this reason that the activists of this organization against bullfighting consider that the Office for the Protection of Minors of the Region of Murcia “should have a position “This foundation’s statement states that ‘there is no greater right for girls, boys or adolescents to access a bullfighting event and see what happens at these events.’

Currently, the Franz Weber Foundation claims that it is in contact “with different ministries so that the central government is taking action in this regardsince they divert these skills towards the Communities”.