Pamplona’s annual bull-running festival has again been marred by a series of alleged sexual assaults, with four rapes, one attempted rape and 10 cases of sexual abuse reported over the last six days.



Organisers of the San Fermín festival, in which hundreds of people race bulls through Pamplona’s cobbled streets, have stepped up their campaign to combat sexual violence since 2008, when a young nurse was strangled and beaten to death.



This year’s festival, which began on 6 July, has already seen 15 people arrested over allegations of sexual assault. Among them are five men – including a recent graduate of the Guardia Civil police force – who were detained in connection with the alleged rape of a woman on Thursday night. The incident is thought to have been filmed on a mobile phone.

On Monday night, women’s rights activists and other protesters crowded into the Plaza del Castillo, where one of the rapes is alleged to have taken place, to demonstrate against the attacks. It came four days after thousands of people staged a similar protest.

Pamplona’s city councillor for public safety, Aritz Romeo, insisted the council was working to tackle the violence and had made it easier for women to report assaults. He suggested that the rise in attacks could be the result of increased reporting.

“I don’t think what’s happening in Pamplona is different from what’s happening in other cities at festival time, it’s just that we’ve opened up the channels of communication and there are 3,400 police officers [deployed] to catch attackers,” he told El País.

In a statement, the council said it supported Monday’s protest, adding that it was working to “eliminate sexist attacks and to improve safety for women wherever they are”.

It also called on residents and visitors to play their part in addressing the problem.

“We urge those who are attacked to keep reporting it, we encourage other citizens to maintain an active approach to this kind of assault and to help report it, and we reject and condemn the attacks and stress that Pamplona will not tolerate sexist assaults,” it said.

Last year, the mayor of Pamplona, Jose Asirón, said the sexual attacks had become “a black stain on San Fermín”.