TORDESILLAS, SPAIN: Men on horseback in a Spanish town chased down a bull and speared it to death Tuesday during the annual Toro de la Vega festival — a tradition reviled by animal rights activists, who turned out by the hundreds to protest.

Scuffles broke out between activists and the festival's more numerous supporters before the bull, weighing more than half a ton, was set loose in the north-central town of Tordesillas.

The activists also staged a sit-down protest but scattered, along with festival supporters, when the bull was released and headed toward them before being driven to a field.

The bull-spearing event has been held for centuries and supporters defend it as an important historical tradition.

Protester Yolanda Brezos of Barcelona carried a toy bull in Tordesillas, which is about 190 kilometers (118 miles) northwest of Madrid, and made herself up with fake blood streaming from her eyes.

"I have the words taken away from me seeing that human beings the same as you living in the same age as you can enjoy the suffering of a living being," said Brezos, an unemployed office worker.