Thousands of partygoers from around the world descended on a village in Spain for the world’s largest annual food fight.
The streets of the eastern city of Bunol turned red as huge crowds threw millions of tomatoes at each other.
The annual La Tomatina food fight takes place every year on the last Wednesday of August, inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the town, located in the tomato-producing region.
Interest in the event has grown steadily after the event was depicted in a Bollywood film in 2011.
Tons of tomatoes were unloaded from trucks to the 20,000 people on the ground, who then began throwing them at each other.
Their white shirts quickly turned pink and red as pop songs blared from the speakers.
At one point, police appeared to use pepper spray to disperse some of the crowd, but the festive atmosphere soon resumed.
The messy fight took place for over an hour in the city, where buildings were covered with tarpaulins ahead of the festivities.
A woman rolls around in the red slush during the annual tomato fight festival ‘Tomatina’
Revelers were covered from head to toe in tomato juice in the village of Bunol near Valencia, Spain
Interest in the event has grown steadily after the event was depicted in a Bollywood film in 2011
White shirts quickly turned pink and red as pop songs blared from the speakers
A group throws tomatoes from the back of a truck into the crowd
An aerial view while the streets turn red due to the big food fight in the village
Revelers are all smiles as they enjoy the fruity chaos surrounding each other
Revelers carried dry bags to protect their belongings before creating tomato juice angels
A couple shares a kiss in the madness of the food fight around them
Like every year, on the last Wednesday of August, thousands of people visit the small village to throw tons of ripe tomatoes at each other
Participants wear swimming goggles to protect their eyes, while their clothing, usually T-shirts and shorts, remains covered in pulp
The fight lasts about an hour before authorities hose down the participants and clear the streets
Revelers travel from all over the world to take part in the event
People travel from all over the world to participate in the festival along with approximately 5,000 locals
A reveler draws a face full of tomato pulp during the food fight
A group wades through the tomatoes on the ground in the Spanish village
One reveler bathes in the red sludge on the streets of Bunol
The citric acid from the tomatoes acts as a cleaning agent, often leaving the streets of Bunol cleaner than before.
A man stands against a door, amid the barrage of tomatoes being thrown around him
Participation in the event has been paid and ticketed since 2013 after officials said too many foreign visitors took part and overwhelmed the streets
Workers loaded tons of overripe tomatoes onto the street, where thousands of people pelted each other for about an hour
One local hides behind barriers but takes a photo of the food fight outside
A man covered in tomato juice holds one of the region’s fruits in his mouth
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Should tourists dominate local festivals like La Tomatina, or will this destroy their tradition?
La Tomatina became an annual tradition before Spanish dictator General Francisco Franco banned it in the 1950s. Television media attention in the 1980s made the festival a national event and eventually an international attraction.
La Tomatina is a beloved festival in Bunol and has provided a welcome boost to the local government coffers in recent years.
Participation in the event has been paid and ticketed since 2013 after officials said too many foreign visitors took part and overwhelmed the streets.
More than 20,000 people were expected to take part this year, with Spanish news agency EFE reporting this week that around 40 percent of participants over the past three years had been outside tourists. Spain.
There has been a remarkable increase in visitor numbers India in recent years, following the 2011 Bollywood film ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’ (‘You only live once’), in which three friends take a road trip through Spain during an extensive bachelor party. The film recreated La Tomatina and introduced the festival to many Indians.
It is the film that first drew Romail Khokhar, a 27-year-old from Mumbai, to Buñol. He was there Wednesday morning and wanted to participate in the food fight for the third time.
Mazhar and Sanya Khan, both 40, were also inspired by the film.
“It was fantastic, absolutely well managed,” said Mazhar Khan. ‘We are from India and this is the first time we have been to La Tomatina. It has been a dream for more than ten years.’
The film’s appeal is not limited to Indians. It also attracted Joanna Wytrzyszczewska from Poland.
“Much crazier than we expected,” says Wytrzyszczewska, 32. “We came because we were inspired by a movie. It was better than the movie.’
Similar tomato throwing events have taken place in Florida, London, Amsterdam, the Colombian city of Sutamarchán and Hyderabad, India.
Non-local visitors pay 15 euros ($17.50) for a ticket. The first and only rule: crush your tomatoes before throwing them away to avoid injury. Yet many participants wear swimming goggles and earplugs for protection.
When the hour was up, the sound of a cannon shot marked the end of the festivities, washing away the crowd from communal showers nearby. The city streets were later washed clean.
Although stains on clothing can be permanent, the citric acid from the tomatoes acts as a cleaning agent, often leaving Buñol’s streets cleaner than before.
