Stop Fundamentalism — AP reported from an Iranian news agency that people have poured into the streets of the northeastern city of Neishabour to protest a steep hike in the price of chicken.
Protesters blamed mismanagement by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s administration, but the rare demonstration could be an indication of effects of Western sanctions over Iran’s suspect nuclear program, says AP.
The sanctions have also led to collapse of Iran’s currency and to subsidy cuts, raising prices of basic commodities.
The Monday report by the state-run news ISNA news agency said people gathered in main square of Neishabour, a city of 270,000 about 950 kilometers (600 miles) east of Tehran.
Over the past two months, the price of chicken in Iran has more than doubled.
A video has emerged of what seems to be a group of people in the city of Neishabour, protesting at the soaring price of poultry.
Pictures published on Iranian blogs and videos posted on YouTube that have been taken from the protest in Neishabour, show hundreds of people in the city taking to streets for the first time due to frustrations caused by the chicken crisis. See some of the pictures, here.
{qtube vid:= hNGVaG7ZyKo}
As western economic sanctions on Iran have started to take their toll, prices of fruit and sugar, among other staples, have soared – in some cases showing threefold and fourfold increases, say The Guardian. The price of meat has gone up to such an extent that many now eat it only on special occasions.
The price of chicken, an essential ingredient of Iranian food, has doubled since last year, triggering anger among Iranians at this time of the year when they are supposed to celebrate the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
