Running of the bulls festival starts in Spain – Europe – Stripes

PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) – Two Americans and a Briton were gored and eight others injured Tuesday as thousands of daredevils dashed alongside fighting bulls through the streets of this northern Spanish city on the first bull run of the San Fermin festival, organizers said.

The “chupinazo”, which signals the start of nine days of festival where the “running of the bulls” is one of the main attractions, consists of a rocket fired into the air from the town hall in front of a crowded main square. Then event was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

Bull runs are a traditional part of summer festivals across Spain. In all, 15 people have died from gorings in San Fermin since record-keeping began in 1924.

About 100 semi-naked animal rights activists covered in fake blood yesterday protested against the upcoming famous bull run in the Spanish city of Pamplona. A run takes just under four minutes on average.

More than a dozen people have died during the festivities in the last century.

Two women wear the traditional red scarf.

Five Spaniards, two Australians and one American were gored in last year’s festival in Pamplona.

The crowd was massive.

Pamplona city officials refused to provide an estimate for the number of visitors expected in the city of 300,000 residents for this year’s festival.

A couple play as they have lunch with friends on the street.

The regional government of Navarra said 3350 police would patrol the streets to keep the events as safe as possible. On Saturday, animal activists lay on the ground outside the entrance to the Pamplona bullring, painted red and sporting bull horns.

“The protesters” river of “blood’ where bulls are pursued and beaten before being stabbed to death in the bullring offers citizens a new look at an archaic, shameful spectacle”, says PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi.