Long queues for discounted chicken have reportedly prompted street protests in the north-eastern city of Nishapur.

Source: YouTube. Link to this video  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hNGVaG7ZyKo)
A video has emerged of what purports to be a group of people in the city of Nishapur, in Iran’s north-eastern province of Khorasan Razavi, protesting at the soaring price of poultry.

In response to the controversy, dubbed “chicken crisis” by Iranian media, the government has started the scheme of distributing discounted chicken, prompting long queues in many cities across the country.

Pictures published on Iranian blogs and videos posted on YouTube which appear to have been taken from the protest in Nishapur, 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.

“Shame on the rise [inflation],” chanted people as they gathered in the city’s main square, according to opposition websites and blogs.

Iran’s semi-official Isna news agency confirmed that people in Nishapur have staged a street demonstration due to the rising price of chicken, the Associated Press reported. According to Isna, no one was arrested and there have been no reports of violence.

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. 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.

Source: Guardian