The San Fermín festivities are in full swing in Pamplona and, with it, attitudes that always attract attention. These are days of celebration in Navarra, unleashing through the streets running after the steers and celebrating until the wee hours of the morning. However, that can also lead to a lack of control in which respect and manners are blurred with fun. What may seem like entertainment and a joke turns into an attitude worthy of reprimand.
One of these instances has been experienced in his flesh by Adrián Arnau, a reporter for Radio Televisión Española assigned to cover the celebrations during the week. The journalist has published a video on social networks in which you can see how a group of people surrounds him, insults him, spits on him and prevents him from making a satisfactory live connection. The images, exposed on Twitter, have gained notoriety in a few hours, as well as Arnau’s speech about it.
“If you have been in Pamplona these days, it is likely that you have seen us. This team from RTVE Noticias has done about 40 live broadcasts on the street to recount the Sanfermines festivities program. And this is an example of what we have also experienced: harassment, aggressiveness and violence, ”he commented on the attitude of the people who got in the way of his work. The journalist felt that this behavior was disrespectful of the work they did, covering their parties.
“The reporters who are on the street are simple workers and most of us try to do our job to the best of our ability. Can you imagine that your grandparents, parents, siblings or children were treated like this? Would you accept this conduct towards judges, doctors, workers or bakers? There are no limits: we have been offended, pushed, yelled at and spit on. They have grabbed the microphone, they have pulled the cables or they have fiddled with the camera. Around, all laughter. Because humiliating ourselves is fashionable “, he expanded in his speech.
“We have endured threats, abuse, humiliation and aggression. We do not point to the people of Pamplona, ??we have heard insults with all the accents. The reason? Telling about the running of the bulls, the parades, the traditions, the cultural activities, the customs and the history of this festival”, explained the reporter, who also had to deny a statement by Javier Negre about how the RTVE team had security guards to avoid those attacks.
“Those guards guard the mobile units of RTVE,” he said, in addition to detailing how they did not intervene during a connection in which he was shoved and seriously insulted. “Practically all of the TVE journalists that you will find on the street are normal people, like you. And honest enough to try to fulfill their public service obligation and work outside of colors and labels”, Arnau assured.
Despite this, the reporter closed his explanation of the events with a message of thanks to the citizens of Pamplona, ??separating them from the groups that made his work difficult. He said he left “grateful for Pamplona for the hospitality of the Pamplona people and the cultural and social richness of their city.”
