Pamplona’s running of the bulls festival kicks off

The San Fermín Festival, known for its bull running, began in Pamplona, ​​northern Spain, with the traditional “Chupinazo”, a small rocket launched from the balcony of the city hall in front of a crowd of more than 12,000.

The annual nine-day event has been greeted by renewed protests.

The first run of the bulls is scheduled for Tuesday.

The festival has always been held in July in the city of 215,000 in the Navarre region since the late 16th century.

The close-knit crowd chanted “San Fermín, San Fermín, San Fermín” as they danced, sang and waved their traditional red scarves.

Every morning until July 14, six 600-kilogram fighting bulls will be driven through the narrow streets of the Old City, and hundreds of people, mostly young people, will run in front of them.

The event is broadcast live by many broadcasters.

Dozens of people are injured every year on the 875-meter track.

There have been 16 deaths since 1924.

In the evenings, the same bulls are killed in the city’s bullfight.

Other festival events include concerts and parades.

Animal rights activists have been protesting the running of bulls for years, calling it “medieval torture”.

People come to the event from all over the world, especially Europe, Australia, Asia and the United States.

American writer Ernest Hemingway used Pamplona and the running of the bulls as the background of his first major novel, The Sun Also Rises, written in 1926.

It was released the following year in the UK as Fiesta.