On that first weekend of March, the northern village of Beuvry-la-Forêt appeared as calm as the surrounding countryside was flat. But on Saturday, March 2, at around 2.30 pm, a demonstration formed at the foot of the church in this French village of 3,000 inhabitants. About 15 people lined up, brandishing signs with provocative slogans such as "Cockfighting = torture" and "Barbarism is not our culture."
The demonstration had been called by the northern section of the Animalist Party, who had come to protest against cockfighting organized the same day, some 100 meters away, in a back alley of the town center. For the event, the Salle Jean-Degros had been transformed into a cockpit, an arena dedicated to cockfighting.
Watched by around 200 spectators, some of them families, the "coqueleurs" or "coqueleux" – men and women who engage in the practice – arrived little by little, carrying their animals in wooden crates. Some 20 fights were scheduled. Organized by the Société de Chasse de la Place, a local hunters' society, the event was open to the public for an entrance fee of €3 per person. There was only one rule: no photos or videos of the fights. "You never know how these images might be used. Tradition no longer gets good press," said one of the organizers, who requested anonymity.
Cockfighting is illegal in France, but a law passed in 1964 tolerates it in two northern departments, as well as in the overseas territories of Guadeloupe, Martinique and La Réunion, where this age-old practice has been a tradition since the 18th century. It consists of placing two roosters armed with a sharp blade on each leg in a wire-mesh fenced arena, until one of them succumbs or is no longer able to fight. These duels, presided over by a jury, generally last six minutes and are the object of betting.
"As long as these cruel acts threaten the lives of roosters, we will denounce them," said Sabine Billard, representative of the Animalist Party in northern France. Environmentalists have also repeatedly voiced their "firm and constant opposition to the authorization of such fights, which, under the guise of local tradition, are tantamount to torture of animals."
In August 2022, a petition calling for the abolition of the tradition garnered 63,000 signatures. It was launched by Gabrielle Paillot, who described herself as a "spokesperson for animals." "We clearly feel that society is against us," said Francis Mergand, General Secretary of the cockfighting organization "Fédération des coqueleurs du Nord." "We represent a community of insiders attached to this tradition which, while not to everyone's liking, is very important to us."
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