Egypt: Calls for meat boycott over price rises

Egyptians have seen the cost of meat rise steeply in the past month

Egyptians have started a social media campaign calling on people to stop buying meat in protest against rising prices, it's reported.

They are hoping that a boycott will force traders to lower their prices, after beef reached 100 Egyptian pounds ($13; £8) per kilo in parts of the country, the al-Masry al-Youm website reports. On its Sunday front page, the paper described the campaign as "spreading widely", noting that posters supporting the boycott have appeared across the eastern Suez region, and local campaigns have also been seen in other parts of the country.

On Twitter, a hashtag which translates as #forget_about_meat was among the top trends in Egypt, with many users voicing support for the initiative. "I hope this will be applied to everything where the price is getting unreasonably high," one user tweets. The liberal 6 April Youth Movement, which has more than 900,000 Twitter followers, also came out in support of the boycott. But there was scepticism from some, with one user asking how Egyptians can be expected to stop buying meat when Eid al-Adha - and the tradition of sacrificing an animal - is only a month away.

Officials say the campaign is unlikely to have any effect, as the underlying problem is that meat production is too low. "The campaigns will not bring the prices down, but they will cause traders' and butchers' income to drop," Jamal Zaqzaq, head of Alexandria's consumer protection authority, tells the paper.

Next story: Oslo schools fitted with terror alarms

Use #NewsfromElsewhere to stay up-to-date with our reports via Twitter.