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After a two-year break due to the corona pandemic, the Basque city of Pamplona is celebrating the San Fermín festival with the famous bull run for the first time.
On Wednesday afternoon, the traditional »Chupinazo« rocket was fired from the balcony of the town hall to open the nine-day festival.
Thousands of people from all over the world celebrated the starting shot with plenty of alcohol.
"Viva San Fermín," shouted the tightly packed people.
They danced, sang and waved the traditional red scarves.
The festival in honor of the city saint San Fermín will be held again for the first time since 2019.
It was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.
The festival goes back to medieval traditions.
The highlights are the daily tests of courage when running through the historic old town while fleeing fighting bulls with sharp horns.
Hundreds of daring people embark on the 850 meter long route.
The first bull hunt is scheduled for Thursday.
Every year dozens of people are injured in the hunts.
However, the participants mainly injure themselves through falls or because the cops trample on them.
The last fatality was in 2009, when a bull impaled a man in the neck, heart and lungs.
There have been a total of 16 fatalities since 1924.
During the "Sanfermínes" there are not only bull races 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 countless tourists from all over the world.
The US writer Ernest Hemingway also wrote about Pamplona in his first major novel »Fiesta« (1926).
sol/dpa/AFP