Annual 'Tomatina' battle leaves Spanish town red

29 Aug 2014 9:40 AM IST

The streets of an eastern Spanish town are awash with red pulp as thousands of people pelt each other with tomatoes in the annual 'Tomatina' battle.
Participants are encouraged to wear safety goggles and gloves. In addition to general common-courtesy rules, such as not bringing any objects that can harm people (e.g. glass bottles, rocks), they must crush the tomatoes before throwing them, and
The event was inspired by a food fight between local children in 1945 in the tomato-producing region.
The event was sold out weeks ahead.
It was reported that the small town is high in debt of about 5.5 million euros and hence the reason for the 10 euro fee.
The town of about 20,000 people began charging tourists participating in the festival, to help pay off their debts.
This was the second year non-resident participants were charged — 10 euros ($13) — to take part.
The 22,000 participants —many from abroad — to throw the ripe tomatoes on each other engaging in a food fight during the hour-long morning festivities.
At the annual fiesta in Bunol, trucks dumped 125 tons of ripe tomatoes for the participants.
Over the years the battle has become a major tourist attraction.

The streets of an eastern Spanish town are awash with red pulp as thousands of people pelt each other with tomatoes in the annual 'Tomatina' battle.