Laurence Dollimore
THIS is the moment a vegan protester was pounced on by matadors and police after storming a bullring in Mallorca – before being held in a prison cell overnight.
Peter Janssen, 38, founder of activist group Vegan Strike, was filmed jumping into the pit in Inca, Palma, last Sunday evening.
The action was carried out in conjunction with the Mallorca Against Bullfighting (MAB) group, which counts After Life actor Peter Egan and Countryfile presenter Chris Packham among its supporters. Hollywood actor Joseph Fiennes, the brother of Ralph Fiennes, also backs the group.
Footage shows Dutchman Janssen removing his t-shirt to reveal anti-bullfighting slogans, as he attempts to run towards a bull.
The protester had hoped to hug the animal, which was moments away from being stabbed to death after being cornered on the other side of the ring, the Olive Press can reveal.
However he was swiftly tackled by matadors and security, backed up by officers from Spain’s armed Civil Guard force just seconds later.
He is seen in the video being dragged out of the ring as the hundreds of spectators who had gathered for the gory spectacle booed and jeered.
As he is being walked out by police, one man can be seen punching him in the stomach. He was placed in a local cell overnight.
A fellow campaigner told the Olive Press: “He jumped in the ring, he had to wait until the third bull, but when it went down on its knees and was dying he went in and tried to hug it.
“They dragged him out and gave him a total pasting. There was a group of men absolutely kicking the s**t out of him outside, he might have to go to hospital.”
The activists had been attempting to have the event at Palacio de los Toros in Inca cancelled due to its “particular cruelty”.
According to MAB, the young animals believe they ‘are there to play’, before being taunted and stabbed by matadors.
Bullfighting had been banned on the island of Mallorca before being made legal again in 2019.
Natasha Retzmann, founder of MAB, said: ‘When I heard that bullfighting would be returning to Mallorca in 2019, I was stunned.
‘So many people had worked so hard to ban this cruel form of ‘entertainment’ from the island.’
She added: “I find the idea of making an animal or a human being suffer physically or mentally for the pleasure of a minority of bloodthirsty spectators inexcusable.
“This scale and lack of humanity and empathy is very disturbing and worrying. My concern is that if these people enjoy watching the bloodshed of a gentle, innocent being in a slow, methodical ritual that involves pre-torture (to the point that the bull is half dead before it even enters the ring) and an inexcusably slow, painful final bloodshed, what else would they excuse? What other disturbing character traits do they have? What lessons are they teaching their children, nieces, nephews, cousins?”
Retzmann said her group has ‘run into walls’ while trying to bring back the ban because ‘the Conservative government immediately scrapped important sections of the Animal Welfare Act and the bullfighting lobby is very rich and very powerful.’
She added: “Our only hope is that the press will tear Inca and Palma’s magistrate apart for
allowing this sadistic form of entertainment. Inca has proclaimed an Agenda 2030 for
sustainable tourism as a model for all cities on the island – they can forget it. For sustainable, gentle tourism, bullfighting is poison.”
