Friday, May 1, 2009

Pigs to the slaughter in Egypt


Amid swine flu hysteria Mubarak has ordered pigs to be killed – but is this just another assault on Egypt's Christian minority?

Brian Whitaker
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 April 2009

"Farmers in Egypt clashed yesterday with officials who had come to destroy their pigs. They blocked the roads and some hurled stones at trucks and bulldozers sent by the health ministry. The trouble broke out after the government ordered the slaughter of all pigs in Egypt amid a wave of hysteria about "swine" flu.

The Mubarak regime's record in matters of public health and safety is a dismal one: more than 1,000 dead in a ferry disaster, more than 370 dead in a train fire, 50 dead in a theatre fire, plus treacherous roads, and buildings that fall down regularly on top of their occupants. Egypt also continues to have cases of bird flu – 26 people have died there since 2006, making it the worst-affected country outside Asia, where the disease originated......."

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