Flour bomb fight marks religious day in Greece

Hundreds of people have taken part in a huge flour fight in Greece to celebrate Clean Monday - the first day of Orthodox Lent in Greece.

Rival teams pelted each other with coloured flour bombs in the coastal fishing town of Galaxidi, while some spectators watched from the village quay to avoid being hit.

Around 1,500kg of flour is used in the battle. It gets its bright colours from the food colouring which is added to it.

The flour war is believed to have originated in 1801, when Galaxidi residents defied their then Ottoman rulers by celebrating the forbidden carnival and painting their faces with ash while dancing.