In pictures: India school meal death protests

An Indian man carries a boy on a drip out of an ambulance in Patna on 17 July 2013.

At least 22 children have died and dozens more fell sick with apparent food poisoning after eating lunch at a primary school in the eastern Indian state of Bihar.

Two women sit with their sick children in a hospital in Patna on 17 July 2013

The children were part of a free school feeding programme providing cooked meals to more than 120 million children across India.

Mother Asha Devi sits with her hand on her head next to her sick daughter at a hospital in the eastern city of Patna on 17 July 2013

Twenty-eight sick children were taken to hospitals in the nearby town of Chhapra and were later moved to the state capital of Patna.

A crying woman is escorted after her grandson died at a hospital in the city of Patna on 17 July 2013

Angry relatives joined dozens of demonstrators on the streets of Chhapra and Patna, demanding action against the officials responsible for the incident.

A police vehicle on fire in a field in the Saran district of Bihar state on 17 July 2013

The protesters set fire to four police vehicles, and some shops and businesses closed for the day.

Policeman chases young male youth participating in street protests over school children deaths in Saran district of Bihar state on 17 July

Officials say a preliminary investigation showed the food was contaminated with traces of phosphorous, a poisonous substance.

The scattered belongings of children who consumed a free midday meal in Dharma Sati village in the Saran district of Bihar state on 17 July 2013

The children became sick after eating a meal of rice, lentils, soybeans and potatoes which was cooked in the school kitchen.

Indian schoolchildren receive their free mid-day meal at a school in Ahmedabad on 17 July 2013

India's Mid-Day Meal programme - first introduced in the southern city of Chennai (Madras) in 1925 - was set up as a weapon to tackle hunger and illiteracy.

Indian schoolchildren at a school in Ahmedabad eat their free mid-day meal on 17 July 2013

The quality of the meals has improved over the years, and varies from state to state. In Tamil Nadu, for example, a child receives a boiled egg every day of the week.

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