Bull run overshadowed by sex abuse case

Navarra region has dubbed itself ‘a city free of sexist assaults’ in a bid to reassure the thousands of tourists

Pamplona’s famed San Fermin festival begins today, overshadowed by a sexual abuse case that has tarnished one of Spain’s best-loved traditions.

This year, in an attempt to reassure the thousands of tourists who come to party and take part in the hair-raising runs, the city in the northern Navarra region has dubbed itself “a city free of sexist assaults”.

During the San Fermin festival in 2016, five men who called themselves “The Pack” filmed themselves having sex with an 18-year-old woman.

She said they had gang raped her while they claimed she had consented in a case that sparked a powerful feminist wave of indignation across the country.

An April court decision to sentence them for “sexual abuse” rather than the more serious offence of “sexual assault”, a category that includes rape, pushed thousands of Spaniards onto the streets in anger.

Further fanning the flames, the five men were freed on bail just two weeks before the start of the festival, which means they could — in theory — return this year.

Incidents of sexual harassment are not new to the festival. In 2013, photos of women being groped by men shocked Spain.

Until then, “there was very backward thinking that justified men assaulting others under the effect of alcohol and in the party context”, sai Laura Berro, in charge of gender equality at Pamplona city hall.