Aymeric Caron addresses an anti-bullfighting protest near the National Assembly in Paris on Thursday. Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier
A French lawmaker has vowed to keep trying to ban bullfighting after a proposed bill to outlaw the practice was blocked in the French parliament.
Left-wing MP Aymeric Caron was forced to withdraw his bill before the debate could begin.
Caron, from the France Unbowed party, had succeeded in getting his proposed legislation to make all bullfighting illegal onto the lower house's order of the day on November 24.
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But the tabling of some 500 amendments forced the cancellation of the debate, with pro-bullfighting representatives vowing to have talked the issue out of parliamentary time had the debate gone ahead.
Caron said "What's just happened today, isn't an end... but it's just a start”.
He promised to return the issue to parliament, with improved legislation based on cross-party support.
Anti-bullfighting protestors and members of animal rights groups L214 attend the demonstration supporting Caron's bill to ban bullfighting. Reuters/Sarah Meyssonnier
It was set to be the first time the French parliament would have debated the issue of the 'corrida' - the Spanish word is used in France to describe the blood sport.
Bullfighting is mostly associated with Spain but it remains legal in parts of France where it is classed as a 'cultural tradition.'
A law passed in 1951 outlawing cruelty to animals made regional exemptions and French towns from the former Roman bastion of Nimes in the east, to Bayonne in France's Basque Country in the west still hold bullfights.
MPs from south-west France argue that banning the corrida would destroy a very significant part of their southern culture.
Lawmakers from hot and dusty southern towns like Beziers and Arles say that MPs from Paris do not understand the regional importance and history of bullfighting.
But regular surveys of the public show overwhelming support for a complete ban.
The bill which had been proposed on Thursday quoted a veterinary committee's report that "bullfighting is in no way compatible with respect for animal welfare”.
It said that the public practice caused “avoidable suffering... for the sole purpose of entertainment”.