Animal rights activists descended on Pamplona, Spain for their annual protest against the running of the bulls ritual yesterday.

Activists put on horns and poured fake blood over each others' heads while standing in the town's square in protest at the bull-running ritual, which culminates in a bullfight where the animals are then slaughtered. 

Photo: Reuters/Eloy Alonso

"It is a cruel, violent and bloody way for bulls to be executed," said PETA campaign director Kirsty Henderson. Protests are now in their 15th successive year, and their graphic, gory nature have ended up as a tourist attraction in their own right. 

Activists say their aim is to ban bullfighting first, and the annual running of the bulls ritual later. Spain's autonomous region of Catalonia banned bullfighting in 2010, and the practice is also banned in Ecuador, Costa Rica and parts of Mexico. 

Running of the bulls rituals occur across Spain, although the festival of Sanfermines in Pamplona remains the best-known. The ritual involves letting six bulls loose on a subset of a town's streets, with a group of unarmed people running up ahead. Between 50 to 100 people are injured every year during the event. 

Photo: Reuters/Eloy Alonso

Photo: Reuters/Eloy Alonso

Photo: Reuters/Susana Vera