Bull turns tables on Spanish crowd

Forty people were injured when a bull leapt into the packed grandstands of a Spanish bullring and ran amok.

Forty people were injured when a bull leapt into the packed grandstands of a Spanish bullring and ran amok.

Spanish TV today showed the bull jumping from the ring into the stands causing panic as he lurched through the screaming crowd at the Tafalla arena in the northern region of Navarra.

Spectators and officials tied a rope around the bull to bring it under control and it was later removed from the arena with a crane and killed.

A 10-year-old boy was in intensive care at a hospital in the regional capital of Pamplona after the bull reportedly fell on him. Another man was gored in the back. Thirty-eight others suffered minor injuries.

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The incident comes at a time when Spain is split over whether bullfighting should be outlawed.

Last month Catalonia became the first major Spanish region to ban it after heated debate that pitted animal rights against a pillar of traditional culture.

The ban will take effect from 2010 in the north-eastern coastal region whose capital is Barcelona.

AP