July 15... San Fermín again

You may have heard by now of the May 15 Movement but it seems that the July 15 Movement is much older and consolidated: since 1985 a growing number of Pamplonese reject that the local fiestas, the famous San Fermines, have to end on July 14.

The dawn when the Basque historical capital is supposed to return to normality, they continue with the encierros. No bulls?, a bus will do. No bus? any other vehicle.

And of course the most mythical Pamplonese ever, San Fermín (famous bishop excommunicated for partying too much, says the legend) and Miguel Indurain (famous cyclist whose record of victories could never been explained properly - anti-doping tests were then in the stone age) joined the fiesta that should not be.

It began in 1985, in 2011 continues stronger than ever (video in Spanish/Basque):

However as of late the bull-substitutes have become local policemen in anti-riot gear. With it the extra fiesta morning has acquired a more political flavor, with people crying in favor of Basque prisoners and against the police:

They call the cops "peseteros" (from peseta, old Spanish coin), which means today someone who cares too much about money but in the context of Navarrese history it meant the pro-Spanish militias which in the Carlist Wars were paid one peseta as salary (while the Carlist militias were volunteers and went usually unpaid).

They also call them fascists, violents, police=murderers, shameless, bastards, and cheer armed to the teeth, how brave!

Sources: Sare Antifaxista, Ateak Ireki.


Independentistak parading through San Fermin fiestas

Unrelated except for the San Fermin Pamplona detail. Worth mentioning but surely not worth a separate post (from Ateak Ireki, see also Independentistak, who are a wide spectrum platform for Basque freedom):