Jubilant crowds welcome San Fermin fiestas

Thousands gathered in Pamplona on Thursday for one of Spain’s most popular festivals famous for its morning bull runs. The crowd gathered for the beginning of the city’s San Fermin fiestas. The celebrations start with the ‘Chupinazo’, a firecracker in the shape of a rocket that burst in the sky, opening the one week long festival which includes morning bull runs from 7-14 of July.

The runs start each morning at 8:00 am (0600GMT) over a stretch of 800 metres from a corral to the city’s bull ring, where runners are chased by a pack of six bulls. Considered Spain’s most famous festival and popularized by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”, the “San Fermines” gather every year tourists from all around the world during the week.