02:10Tens of thousands of people gathered to take part in the annual battle of the tomatoes - 'La Tomatina' - in the small town of Bunol near Spain's Valencia, on Wednesday.
Footage shows festivalgoers coated in gooey tomato juice, as the streets of Bunol ran red with the pulp. Some can be seen breaking into an impromptu conga, as the crowd pelted each other and those in the back of a lorry with the sticky fruit.
This year was the 77th edition of the festival, with local media reporting that around 22,000 people took part in a town with a population of just over 9,000 inhabitants.
Entry to the battle costs 15 euros for visitors but is free for locals. A new VIP service has been organised this year with a ticket price of 500 euros, which gives access to the back of the lorry loaded with tomatoes.
This year, over 150,000 kilogrammes of local Pera tomatoes served as ammunition for a battle that attracted tourists from all over the world.
Since 2013, the local authorities have also organised a children's version of 'La Tomatina' for those from 4 to 14 years old, which is free to enter and celebrated on the last Saturday of August.
‘La Tomatina’ started in 1945, after a group of local youths brawled in the street during a folk festival, seizing tomatoes from a greengrocer's stall and throwing them at one another.
The festival rose to fame in Spain and then worldwide thanks to a report by journalist Javier Basilio in a television programme in 1983. Since then the number of participants has grown year after year, and in 2002 'La Tomatina' de Bunol was declared a festival of international importance.
Covered in pulp from my head to-ma-toes! Thousands battle it out at Bunol's La Tomatina festival
Tens of thousands of people gathered to take part in the annual battle of the tomatoes - 'La Tomatina' - in the small town of Bunol near Spain's Valencia, on Wednesday.
Footage shows festivalgoers coated in gooey tomato juice, as the streets of Bunol ran red with the pulp. Some can be seen breaking into an impromptu conga, as the crowd pelted each other and those in the back of a lorry with the sticky fruit.
This year was the 77th edition of the festival, with local media reporting that around 22,000 people took part in a town with a population of just over 9,000 inhabitants.
Entry to the battle costs 15 euros for visitors but is free for locals. A new VIP service has been organised this year with a ticket price of 500 euros, which gives access to the back of the lorry loaded with tomatoes.
This year, over 150,000 kilogrammes of local Pera tomatoes served as ammunition for a battle that attracted tourists from all over the world.
Since 2013, the local authorities have also organised a children's version of 'La Tomatina' for those from 4 to 14 years old, which is free to enter and celebrated on the last Saturday of August.
‘La Tomatina’ started in 1945, after a group of local youths brawled in the street during a folk festival, seizing tomatoes from a greengrocer's stall and throwing them at one another.
The festival rose to fame in Spain and then worldwide thanks to a report by journalist Javier Basilio in a television programme in 1983. Since then the number of participants has grown year after year, and in 2002 'La Tomatina' de Bunol was declared a festival of international importance.
Tens of thousands of people gathered to take part in the annual battle of the tomatoes - 'La Tomatina' - in the small town of Bunol near Spain's Valencia, on Wednesday.
Footage shows festivalgoers coated in gooey tomato juice, as the streets of Bunol ran red with the pulp. Some can be seen breaking into an impromptu conga, as the crowd pelted each other and those in the back of a lorry with the sticky fruit.
This year was the 77th edition of the festival, with local media reporting that around 22,000 people took part in a town with a population of just over 9,000 inhabitants.
Entry to the battle costs 15 euros for visitors but is free for locals. A new VIP service has been organised this year with a ticket price of 500 euros, which gives access to the back of the lorry loaded with tomatoes.
This year, over 150,000 kilogrammes of local Pera tomatoes served as ammunition for a battle that attracted tourists from all over the world.
Since 2013, the local authorities have also organised a children's version of 'La Tomatina' for those from 4 to 14 years old, which is free to enter and celebrated on the last Saturday of August.
‘La Tomatina’ started in 1945, after a group of local youths brawled in the street during a folk festival, seizing tomatoes from a greengrocer's stall and throwing them at one another.
The festival rose to fame in Spain and then worldwide thanks to a report by journalist Javier Basilio in a television programme in 1983. Since then the number of participants has grown year after year, and in 2002 'La Tomatina' de Bunol was declared a festival of international importance.