Kick-off of controversial “Sanfermines” bull hunting festival in Spain Man finds snake in Aldi broccoli

The famous and controversial “Sanfermines” festival started in Pamplona on Thursday with the firing of a small rocket.

Thousands of enthusiastic people watched the «Chupinazo», in which the rocket is launched from the balcony of the town hall. “Viva San Fermín,” shouted the white-clad people crowding the town hall square and adjacent streets. They danced, sang and waved the traditional red scarves.

The festival has been held for about 400 years in honor of the city saint San Fermín. According to legend, he was beheaded as a martyr. The red cloth is meant to commemorate his blood. In 2020 and 2021, the festival had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Since last year, however, it is taking place again as before Corona. The first bull hunt is scheduled for Friday.

The highlight of the event is the daily bull hunt: on a total of eight days in the morning, six fighting bulls are driven through the narrow streets of the old town into the bullring. Hundreds of people – mostly young men – run ahead of the bulls, which weigh about 600 kilograms. These challenges injure dozens each year. There have been 16 deaths since 1924, the last in 2009.

Animal welfare activists, who covered themselves with red cloth, demonstrated against animal cruelty on Wednesday. They held up signs reading “Pamplona: Violence and Death for Cops” in several languages.

During the “Sanfermines” there are not only bull runs in the city of 200,000 inhabitants in the Navarra region, but also bullfights, concerts, processions and activities for families and children. The festival attracts tourists from all over the world. (sda/dpa)