Pamplona holds opening bull run during Spain's San Fermin festival
Bulls are released to run through the cobblestone streets(Miguel Oses/AP)
The bulls pounded along the twisting cobblestone streets after being led by six steers. Up to 4,000 runners take part in each bull run, which takes place over 846 meters (2,775 feet) and can last three to four minutes.
Most runners wear the traditional garb of white trousers and shirt with a red sash and neckerchief. The expert Spanish runners try to sprint just in front of the bull's horns for a few death-defying seconds while egging the animal on with a rolled newspaper.
Attendees wait on their balconies as rain begins to fall during the first day of the running of the bulls (Miguel Oses/AP)
Thousands of spectators watch from balconies and wooden barricades along the course. Millions more follow the visceral spectacle on live television.
While gorings are not rare, many more people are bruised and injured in falls and pileups with each other. Medics rush in to treat the injured and take the seriously hurt to a hospital.
Revellers pack the main square during the start of nine days of uninterrupted partying in Pamplona's famed running-of-the-bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain (Miguel Oses/AP)
Unofficial records say at least 15 people have died in the bull runs over the past century. The deadliest day on record was July 13 1980, when four runners were killed by two bulls. The last death was in 2009.
The rest of each day is for eating, drinking, dancing and cultural entertainment, including bull fights where the animals that run in the morning are slain in the bull ring by professional matadors each afternoon.
The festival was made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises about American bohemians wasting away in Europe.
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