Photos: Pamplona’s Streets Run Red With ‘Blood’ in San Fermín Protest

This morning, more than 100 people, mostly from Spain but some from all corners of the world, took off their clothes, covered themselves with red bodypaint and lay down in the street, outside the entrance to the bullring in the Spanish city of Pamplona.

This was the result:

The striking protest, a joint effort by PETA and the Spanish group AnimaNaturalis, was a vivid representation of the bloodshed that occurs every year as part of the San Fermín festival in Pamplona.

PETA has headed to Pamplona for more than a decade to demonstrate against this barbaric spectacle. Our hard-hitting protests raise international awareness of what happens to animals at San Fermín and persuade compassionate people to shun the bull runs.

Prior to the Running of the Bulls, electric prods and sharp sticks are often used to torment the bulls, who may also be debilitated by tranquilisers. The animals slip and slide along the narrow streets, pursued by hundreds of people, before they end up in the bullring. Once there, as many as eight men are set against one terrified bull to taunt, beat and jab him with daggers for approximately 15 minutes – until the matador ultimately stabs the exhausted animal with a sword. Many bulls drown in their own blood when the matadors’ aim is inaccurate and their swords pierce the animals’ lungs instead of their hearts.

But change could be in the air. The majority of Spanish people have no interest in bullfighting, and more than 100 Spanish towns have banned it altogether. Now, Pamplona’s new mayor is proposing a public consultation on the future of this shameful, archaic event in his city. Sign the petition supporting this progressive move.