Tens of thousands of people pelt each other with tomatoes in the annual 'Tomatina' fruit festival.


Tens of thousands of people pelted each other with 120 tons of ripe tomatoes in an annual battle that left the eastern Spanish town of Bunol awash with red pulp.

Bunol s town hall estimates that around 40,000 people, including many tourists, took part in the hour-long street fight known as the "Tomatina" (tomato fight).

Participants from around the world jumped and fell around in the sea of red mush as they pelted each other with tomatoes, which are hurled at the crowds from loaded trucks.

At one point the civil guard had to step in to control some over-zealous participants, and every year the festival ends in a huge clean-up operation.

"We haven t stopped to remove our shirts or throw the tomatoes in the drains," said one of the cleaners.

The origin of the tomato fight is disputed - everyone in Bunol seems to have a favourite story -- but most agree it started around 1940, in the early years of General Francisco Franco s dictatorship.