By DPA
Pamplona : Thousands of cheering Spaniards and tourists Friday packed central Pamplona as the northern Spanish city launched its annual San Fermin festival, world-famous for its bull runs.
"Long live Saint Fermin!" mayor Yolanda Barcina shouted on igniting the traditional firework rocket known as chupinazo.
The square in front of the city hall was crammed with bull enthusiasts dressed in white clothes and red scarves, opening bottles of champagne and tossing confetti into the air.
The nine-day festival celebrated in honour of the city's patron, Saint Fermin, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. Many come to participate in the bull runs, which were made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises.
The eight-day bull runs will begin Saturday morning when half a dozen fighting bulls are let loose on the winding streets of the old city centre.
Daredevil men known as mozos run alongside the bulls, armed with nothing but folded newspapers. The animals make a 825-metre dash for the bull ring, where they are killed in an evening bullfight.
The celebrations also feature concerts and other festive acts, which will number more than 400 this year.
The bull runs have come under criticism from animal rights campaigners, hundreds of whom demonstrated in Pamplona on Thursday.
The bull runs have claimed 14 lives since 1924. Hundreds of participants are injured every year.
DPA