Buñol ups security for famous Tomatina festival: 22,000 fruit-throwing tourists to arrive next Wednesday

Two lorryloads of salad fruit – 160 tonnes in total – will end up coating the faces and clothing of thousands of Japanese and Australian tourists, who are some of the most regular at the unusual festival in Buñol.

A total of 22,000 people will be on the street next Wednesday wearing goggles and their worst clothes – in a town where the resident population is around 10,000.

This year, security was already going to be increased due to the sheer size of the festival, known as the Tomatina, and in line with Spain's terror alert level 4 which was introduced two years ago as a tool to enable the public to stay safe.

But plans have been revised further since the massacres in Barcelona and Cambrils (Tarragona province), and a total of 740 police, firefighters, Civil Protection volunteers and paramedics will be on duty.

And this is not the final figure – more may be brought in at the last minute.

In recent years, Buñol council has been charging visitors €10 for tickets to the Tomatina, given how much it has grown, in order to limit numbers and help with funding.

As always, it has set aside a maximum of 5,000 for residents, which are free, and so far only 250 of the total of 22,000 are left – but these are likely to be snapped up before the date.

The Tomatina is believed to have its roots in the 1950s when a group of bored youths started throwing ripe fruit at each other during the weekly market and, after being arrested, decided to 'celebrate' the fact on the same date every year.

Now, travellers and locals wait patiently as the lorries pour out their tomato loads on the street, and a siren goes off to mark the start, before which no fruit-throwing is allowed.

An hour later, another siren goes off to signify the end.

Rules are few, but in general, no tomatoes may be thrown at people's faces, and nobody is permitted to grab others' clothing.

Recommendations include wearing goggles, and T-shirts which participants do not expect ever to wear again as they will be too badly stained.

Showers are set up on site for tomato-covered tourists to wash the worst of the mess off themselves.