Thousands descend on small Spanish town for annual La Tomatina food fight

BUÑOL, Spain — Thousands of revelers — including many lured by a Bollywood film — descended on a small Spanish town on Wednesday for the annual La Tomatina food fight, where they painted Buñol red with tons of overripe tomatoes.Loaded trucks plodded through the crowd with people in their cargo beds throwing tomatoes at the revelers — who, in turn, hurled them at one another.Their white shirts soon turned pink and red while pop songs blasted from speakers.

At one point, police appeared to use pepper spray to disperse an area of the crowd, but a festive vibe quickly resumed.The messy melee took place for over an hour in the town, where buildings were covered with tarps ahead of the festivities.Held on the last Wednesday of August, the festival traces its origins to a food fight in 1945.La Tomatina became an annual tradition before Spanish dictator Gen. Francisco Franco banned it in the 1950s.

Televised media attention in the 1980s helped turn the festival into a national event, and eventually, an international attraction.More than 20,000 people were expected to take part this year, with the Spanish news agency EFE reporting this week that roughly 40% of participants over the past three years have been tourists from outside Spain.There has been a notable jump in visitors from India in recent years, following the 2011 Bollywood movie “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara” (“You Only Live Once”), in which three friends take a road trip through Spain during an extended bachelor party.The film recreated La Tomatina, introducing the festival to many Indians.The movie is what first drew Romail Khokhar, a 27-year-old from Mumbai, to Buñol.

He was there on Wednesday morning, eager to participate in the food fight for his third time.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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