17 July 2007

MADRID - A man who took his 10-year-old son running with the bulls in Pamplona has been denied visitation rights, a Spanish judge said Tuesday.

Spanish television last week captured images of the boy smiling as he ran ahead of a pack of charging bulls with his father, Luis Miguel Gomez.

The images angered Pamplona city officials _ and the man's ex-wife.

According to city regulations, runners in the San Fermin festival must be 18 years old.

The national television channel interviewed the child, and photographs of him and his father were published in several newspapers. When Gomez's ex-wife saw them, she took her case to the police.

On Monday, a judge in the town of Fuenlabrada, southeast of Madrid, cut off the father's visitation rights. Judge Adolfo Carretero told The Associated Press that Gomez ''continued to place the little boy's life in danger.''

Last week, Pamplona city officials issued the father a EUR150 ($200) fine. Gomez told city officials he wanted to run with his son in other bull runs across Spain.

The San Fermin festival, renowned for its all-night street parties, dates to 1591. It gained fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel ''The Sun Also Rises.''

Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed in the runs and each year dozens are injured. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.

[Copyright AP with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news