Dozens injured in controversial bull hunt in Pamplona What if Ukraine doesn’t win at all?

At least five runners were slightly injured in the first bull hunt of the “Sanfermines” festival in Pamplona in northern Spain on Friday.

They suffered mostly bruises, but there were no serious injuries from the bulls’ long, pointed horns, state television channel RTVE reported on the event, which was as famous as it was controversial. One of the young men suffered a concussion in a fall. Everyone came to the hospital.

The festival in honor of the city saint San Fermín started the day before and ends next Friday. Every day in the early morning, six fighting bulls, some weighing more than 600 kilograms, and several tame lead oxen are driven through the narrow streets of the old town for the bullfights in the evenings. Every year dozens of runners are injured during the courage tests of the predominantly young men over the 825 meter long track. There have been 16 deaths since 1924, the last in 2009.

Animal protection groups protested again this year against the traditional event, which has been taking place since 1591 and made famous by Ernest Hemingway in his novel “The sun also rises” (English: “Fiesta”). In the meantime, however, it is also controversial in Spain. The activists donned head-to-toe blood-red robes and held up signs in several languages ​​reading “Pamplona: violence and death for police”. Despite all the criticism, the festival attracts countless tourists from all over the world. (sda/dpa)