Running of the bulls festival begins

TENS of thousands of people crowded into Pamplona’s main square to celebrate the launching of a rocket that each year marks the beginning of Spain’s most famous bull-running festival.

“Men and women of Pamplona, all hail to San Fermin,” town councillor Uxe Barkos said from a balcony overlooking the crowd before lighting the fuse, signalling the beginning of nine days of uninterrupted festivities in the northern town.

The San Fermin festival is known around the world for its running of the bulls. The mood and tradition was made famous in 1926 by Ernest Hemingway in his novel The Sun Also Rises.