Egyptians growing desperate amid bread shortages and rising world food prices

Roughly 500 activists and textiles workers were arrested, dozens more were injured, and one young boy was killed during clashes with police in Al-Mahalla Al-Kobra last Sunday in protests over rising bread prices, the U.N.’s IRIN news agency reported Thursday.

The protests have stemmed from the perception that the Egyptian government has not done enough to tackle acute shortages of the subsidized bread that many Egyptians depend on amid rising food prices. Long lines in front of bakeries have led to other outbreaks of violence in many of Cairo’s impoverished neighborhoods. Families are taking children out of school to stand in the bread lines, and according to security sources, 11 people have died in the lines from exhaustion, while two have been stabbed over disputes for places in the lines.

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