Message #143788

[Bianca]

                                              Clashes erupt over Egypt pig cull 
 




BBC NEWS
May 3, 2009

Clashes began outside Cairo on Saturday.

Pig farmers have clashed with police in Cairo as they try to stop their animals being taken for slaughter, reports say.

Hundreds of people threw stones and bottles at police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The authorities are carrying out a mass pig cull in what they at first said was a precaution against swine flu but now describe as a general health measure.

UN experts have criticised the move as unnecessary and a mistake, as Mexico said the outbreak could be stabilising.



Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the country was seeing fewer cases every day.

Globally more than 700 people are known to be infected.

Person-to-person transmission has been confirmed in six countries.

But in cases outside Mexico, the effects of the virus do not appear to be severe.