Pamplona in the spotlight: violence mars the home of the bull run | Cities

Pamplona in the spotlight: violence mars the home of the bull run | Cities

Hordes of people will descend on Pamplona this week for the annual Running of the Bulls festival. The city in the northern Spanish region of Navarre will be caught in collective ecstasy as the six bulls and six steers race through the narrow streets as part of a historic tradition first documented in the 14th century.

Red handkerchiefs at the ready, Pamplona has been gearing up for the world-famous event which drew 1.5 million visitors last year.

But the festival is also at the centre of multiple controversies. Last year, it made headlines over reports of sexual violence when police arrested 16 men in relation to five violent attacks, including a rape, and 11 allegations of sexual assault.

The event, known as the festival of San Fermín, also brings ongoing criticism from animal rights activists. Each year anti-bullfighting protests have been held on the eve of the event, decrying the closing ritual in which the bulls are fought and killed by a matador in the historic bullring.

An anti-bullfighting protester takes part in a demonstration in front of Pamplona town hall. Photograph: Vincent West/Reuters

Beyond the bulls, the festivity is also a communal celebration of excess and fun that encompasses and paralyses the entire city for nine days. In fact, unless you or your relative owns a flat with a balcony somewhere along the 825 metre run, you’re better off watching the race on TV.

As far as Pamplona’s residents are concerned, “the days before San Fermín feel like the world is going to end”, says Zurine Altable who lives in the city. “During Sanfermínes you can see almost everything â€" from someone sleeping standing up while a txaranga (a local band) plays in their ear, to someone literally ripping off the toilet from your bar, to someone pissing on the actual bar, which has happened to me while working.”

The city in numbers …

16,448 people took part in last year’s running of the bulls’ corridas (the race itself).

46% of visitors took part in the corridas for the first time in 2016. Most of them were Australian, British and American. According to a survey, 82% of the runners said they knew the drill â€" so they had a good night’s sleep the night before the early morning event, knew the rules and were aware they could die. The French participants seemed to be the most reckless, with 33% of participants running without having slept the night before.

92% of runners are men.

500 â€" the minimum price in euros of a bedroom in the famous hotel where Hemingway used to stay during the festival.

… and pictures

Pamplona in sound and vision

To get a true sense of the city’s glory, you need to read the Pamplona depicted in literature. The Sun Also Rises (translated into Spanish as “Fiesta”, which is said to be the name Hemingway originally gave it) is where the author first displayed his infatuation with the city, helping to create the image that endures to this day, 91 years after the book was published. Shakespeare also set his eye on the kingdom of Navarre, of which Pamplona is the capital; he said the region would be “the wonder of the world” in his comedy Love’s Labour’s Lost.

The most memorable cinematic rendering of Pamplona is, inevitably, in the film adaptation of the Hemingway novel released in 1957 starring Ava Gardner, and it also appears in Orson Welles’s unfinished 1992 film Don Quixote, in which Sancho Panza is seen attending a bull run.

History in 100 words

Pamplona lies in a vast valley inhabited by humans for at least 75,000 years. It is believed that its name in Basque, Iruña, dates back to before the Roman invasion, in around 27BC.

Throughout its history, Navarra has preserved a special degree of fiscal and administrative autonomy dating back to medieval times, like the neighbouring Basque region. Traditionally one of Spain’s industrial powerhouses, the city now struggles to resolve the tension between preserving its ancient past, and embracing the new.

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Workers of Pamplona City Hall put an anti-slip product on the running of the bulls route to stop the animals and runners falling during the festival. Photograph: Alvaro Barrientos/AP

What’s everyone talking about?

The city is forcefully clamping down on sexual assault and violence during San Fermín through adverts, workshops (self-defence for women, and education classes for men), and a 24-hour telephone line, as well as more long-term initiatives to tackle gender inequality.

“No celebration should mean women’s rights are suspended, nor institutional responsibility,” says Vanesa Eguiluz, the local councillor for equality. “A city is only free when women can move around it with freedom, without fear or violence.”

What’s next for the city?

After being governed by the right for almost three decades, Pamplona made a significant political shift in 2015 when it elected an art history teacher called Joseba Asirón to the role of mayor, from the leftist coalition EH Bildu.

“In its immediate future, Pamplona will see if the change sticks or not,” says local resident Altable. “You can smell it in the air; there’s a will to do things differently, but it’s still at a turning point. Either we all change, or we will go back to doing things the old way and to the dark past.” (The city has strong ties with the Catholic church and is home to the University of Navarre, owned by the ultra-secretive Opus Dei.)

Close zoom

The best local news sources are Diario de Navarra and Diario de Noticias in Spanish, Berria in Basque, as well as Pamplona es cultura for cultural news and listings in both. Sanfermin.com will cover all your festive needs and provides information in English.

Do you live in Pamplona? What key facts and figures have we missed?

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