San Fermín fiestas: blows and falls in the first bullfight in three years

the first block in three years in the Fiestas de San Fermín in the Spanish city of Pamplona ended Thursday morning without gore, although Several waiters suffered heavy blows and falls in one of the most famous popular festivals in Europe.

The six bulls, accompanied by six tame oxen, completed the tour through the streets of Pamplona in about 2 minutes and 35 seconds without causing much harm to the thousands of people who attended. There were several runners trampled or pushed to the groundbut no one was injured to the horns.

The Pamplona hospital said six people were brought into treatment, including a 30-year-old American with a fractured radius and ulna in his left arm and a 16-year-old Spaniard who lost part of a finger in the arena, where several runners fell to the ground right at the entrance. The other wounded were Spanish men between the ages of 19 and 45.

run with the bulls

Ryan Ward, an American tourist from San Diego, California, related the experience of run with the bulls it was worth it.

“I think I need to cry. There are too many emotions built up, running with my friends. I don’t know where they are. I lost them all,” he said after leaving the race unscathed.

“It was two seconds, it was probably a minute where I ran the bulls close to me, but it was really quick, like the blink of an eye and that’s it,” Ward said. “It’s amazing, one of the best experiences I’ve had.”

It was the first of eight festival closings, which were also attended by attendees they drink, eat and participate in cultural events.

Eight people were gored in the city’s latest bull runs, held in 2019 before the pandemic. since 1910 16 people died in the running of the bulls, the last in 2009.

bulls slaughtered

The bulls participating in the running of the bulls on Friday they are sacrificed every afternoon in a bullfight with professional bullfighters.

Popular festivals, which attract tens of thousands of people from all over the world, were canceled in 2020 and 2021. due to the coronavirus pandemic.

the success Spanish vaccination program It has allowed life to more or less return to normal, although a recent increase in cases has led the authorities in Pamplona to recommend the use of masks when necessary.

Even so, few masks were seen in the throng of people who crowded the town hall square on Wednesday the “chupinazo, the launch of a rocket that kicks off the celebrations.

Thousands of men and a few women take part in the running of the bulls, in which they try to avoid the large bulls and oxen that rush through the narrow streets of the old town of Pamplona, ​​some covered with cobblestones. The route of 875 meters it is sprayed with a substance that helps prevent bulls from sliding in tight shifts. The race usually ends in under three exciting minutes.

Skilled runners, mostly locals, attempt to run in front of the bulls’ horns before retiring at the last second. The less experienced, mostly foreigners, tend to get out of the way faster, often ending up in human mountains on the ground with other grooms.

Almost everyone in Pamplona is wearing traditional clothing this week white shirt and pants with a headband and a red scarf around her neck.

By Irene Yagüe and Joseph Wilson, Associated Press

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