Annual tomato battle leaves Spanish town awash in red pulp

People lie in a puddle of squashed tomatoes, during the annual "tomatina" tomato fight fiesta, in the village of Bunol, 50 kilometers outside Valencia, Spain, Wednesday, Aug. 31, 2016. The streets of an eastern Spanish town are awash with red pulp as thousands of people pelt each other with tomatoes in the annual "Tomatina" battle that has become a major tourist attraction. At the annual fiesta in Bunol on Wednesday, trucks dumped 150 tons of ripe tomatoes for some 22,000 participants, many from abroad to throw during the hour-long morning festivities.
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t the fiesta in Bunol, 160 tons of tomatoes were offloaded from six trucks into the crowd packing the town's streets for the hour-long battle that attracts many foreigners among the around 20,000 participants.

People cheered and jumped in the party atmosphere, with some people wearing fancy dress but most in T-shirts. As the trucks pulled into the narrow streets, the revelers chanted, "Tomato! Tomato!"

To avoid injuries, revelers are instructed to squelch the tomatoes before throwing them. Even so, many donned swimming goggles to protect their eyes. People on balconies overlooking the festivities also were pelted, and tomatoes left red blotches on buildings' white walls.