- Title: Silence and empty streets as Pamplona celebrates San Fermin with no bulls
- Date: 7th July 2020
- Summary: PAMPLONA, SPAIN (JULY 7, 2020) (REUTERS) EIGHT MEN, MOST DRESSED IN THE TRADITIONAL WHITE ATTIRE WITH RED NECK SCARF, WAVING ROLLED UP NEWS PAPER AS THEY CHANT A HOMILY TO THE IMAGE OF SAN FERMIN, PATRON OF THE FESTIVAL, IN THE FIRST POINT WHERE RUNNERS WOULD NORMALLY GATHER TO RUN WITH THE BULLS AT 08:00 ICON OF SAN FERMIN IN A NICHE IN THE WALL AND PEOPLE ABOVE LOOKING DOWN MEN WRAPPING UP THEIR HOMILY TO SAN FERMIN AND APPLAUDING MEMBERS OF MEDIA AT EMPTY SLOPE OF SANTO DOMINGO, THE FIRST STRETCH OF THE BULL RUN (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RUNNER FROM SEVILLA, TOMAS RUIZ, SAYING: "I think it's a shame, but San Fermin will carry on, it's a tradition, it's Pamplona on the 6th and 7th, but it's also a shame because of the coronavirus' impact on the economy, on cattle farming, hoteliers, businesses, so we have come to give our support to Pamplona, the city." PEOPLE STANDING WHERE CROWDS WOULD NORMALLY GATHER TO WATCH THE RUNNING OF THE BULLS, MAN YELLING IN SPANISH, "LONG LIVE SAN FERMIN" RUIZ STANDING ON FIRST STRETCH OF THE BULL RUN ROUTE WEARING A RED FACE MASK PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PHOTO OF RUIZ AS HE PRAYS TO SAN FERMIN ICON OF SAN FERMIN IN NICHE IN WALL ON THE SLOPE OF SANTO DOMINGO MAN DRESSED IN SAN FERMIN ATTIRE WALKING HIS DOG IN MAIN SQUARE WHICH WOULD NORMALLY BE PACKED WITH REVELLERS DURING THE FIESTA SHOP OWNER OPENING SHOP EMPTY STREET WHERE BULLS WOULD NORMALLY BE CHASING RUNNERS AS PEOPLE WATCHED FROM BALCONIES SHOP OWNER ENTERING HIS SHOP EMPTY STREET WHERE BULLS WOULD NORMALLY BE CHASING RUNNERS SHOP OWNER SETTING UP FIGURE OF A BULL IN FRONT OF HIS SHOP VARIOUS OF APPRENTICE BULL FIGHTER NABIL ESSAOUARI, 18, PRACTISING IN AN EMPTY BULL RING AS ANOTHER YOUNG MAN HOLDS HORNS AND PRETENDS TO BE A BULL
- Embargoed: 21st July 2020 12:15
- Keywords: Pamplona San Fermin festival cancelled festival coronavirus in Spain running of the bulls
- Location: PAMPLONA, SPAIN
- City: PAMPLONA, SPAIN
- Country: Spain
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001CLT9MPZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: San Fermin, the patron saint of Pamplona's bull running fiesta, got his traditional homily on Tuesday (July 7), but, unlike other years, it was not followed by stampeding bulls chasing runners down the narrow streets of the city in what would have been the first run of the festival.
Local authorities cancelled the bull running festival in April due to the coronavirus and stringent security measures have been issued by local authorities to prevent large crowds from gathering, despite the cancellation of the eight-day-long fiesta (July 6-14).
This year, police have set up 14 checkpoints around the Old Town's narrow streets, enforcing compliance with strict capacity limits. Electronic panels will alert passers-by when the main squares have filled up.
The bull runs, known as "encierros," would normally take place every morning at 8 a.m. with six bulls running from a corral on the edge of the Old Town to the arena where they would be fought by top matadores in the afternoon.
The festival, which draws hundreds of thousands of people from Spain and across the globe, first gained international fame from Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises".
Reports in local media estimate the festival generates about 150 million euros for Pamplona every year and its cancellation is expected to have a huge financial impact.
The famed annual party in the northern Spanish city was last called off when political unrest broke out in 1978, though it also lost one day in 1997 after ETA Basque separatists killed a local politician.
(Production: Jon Nazca, Michael Gore, Catherine Macdonald) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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