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The 80ᵉ edition of the legendary Buñol tomato battle that was held only colored the streets of bright red. This year, in the heart of the festive atmosphere of the thousands of participants, a huge Palestinian flag was deployed, transforming the party into an act of visual and political resistance.
At a time when more than 120 tonnes of tomatoes crashed against walls and bodies in an atmosphere of jubilation, a collective of participants chose to recall another reality, much more tragic: the incessant bombings and the murderous aggressions led by the Israeli occupant against the Gaza population. Next to the flag, a banner calling for the end of the violence was brandished by the participants. The striking image immediately circulated from August 27 on social networks and in the international media.
“We could not remain silent while whole families are massacred under the bombs,” said a resident of Buñol who participated in the action. “Tomatina is a symbol of joy and community, and that is precisely why it is the moment to recall the suffering of Palestine: the party must also be a space of memory and solidarity. »»
Supported by a political party of the local left, the initiative found a broad echo among festival -goers. Many have seen a way of breaking international indifference in the face of what some describe as an “ethnic cleaning” led in the Gaza Strip. While Buñol celebrated the slogan “tomatrapia” chosen this year in tribute to the resilience of the inhabitants struck by the floods of 2024 the gesture gave the party a deeply human and political dimension.
Tomatina was born almost by accident. The story tells that in 1945, a young boy fell from a tank during a parade and, in a momentum of anger, overthrew a stall of vegetables on the main square. Very quickly, the inhabitants began to launch tomatoes, transforming the quarrel into an immense improvised battle. The event made the village laugh and, despite the intervention of the authorities, it was repeated year after year.
Over time, the party has grown up to become an unmissable event: prohibited in the 1950s by the Franco regime, it was restored thanks to popular pressure. In the 1980s, Spanish television made a national phenomenon, and in 2002 the State officially recognized it as a “party of international tourism”. Today, nearly 20,000 people from around the world are flocking to Buñol every last Wednesday in August to dive into a red torrent of crushed tomatoes.
The safety rules are simple but strict: the tomatoes must be crushed before being launched to avoid injuries, it is prohibited to tear down clothes or use hard objects, and participants must remain far from trucks that deliver tomatoes. The event traditionally begins after a participant manages to win a ham hanging at the top of a slippery post, and ends with the second detonation of a fireworks.
Never in 80 years of history, the Tomatina had experienced such a symbol of political protest. The contrast is striking: on the one hand, collective joy, deafening music and tomato torrents; On the other hand, the painful recall that a few thousand kilometers, Palestinian civilians die daily under the Israeli bombing.
“It’s a simple act, but heavy with meaning,” said Sergio Galarza, deputy mayor of Buñol. “This flag recalls that the party is not cut off from the world, and that even in joy, there is a moral responsibility in the face of injustices. »»
When the cannon sounded, meaning the end of the battle, the streets quickly found their cleanliness thanks to the acidity of the tomatoes. But the image of the Palestinian flag floating above the red tide remains printed in the memories. A different tomatina, which, beyond the explosion of colors, offered the world a powerful declaration: solidarity knows neither borders, festivals, nor seasons.