World food crisis

Where are the riots and why?

Article published on the 2008-04-16 Latest update 2008-10-29 12:47 TU

Soaring food prices, reaching 80 per cent in some countries, have sparked strikes, protests and riots. Here are some of the hunger hot spots around the world.

Bangladesh: Thousands of garment workers went on stike 15 April, some clashing with police and smashing cars and shops, riots left 50 injured; a strike the previous week led some employers to raise wages; the price of rice has risen by a third since last year's cyclone.

Philippines: In the world's biggest rice importer, prices have risen 30 per cent since the end of last year; President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo pledged to jail anyone stealing rice; there are long queues for government rice handouts and troops are deployed to guard supplies.

Thailand: In the world's biggest rice exporter, farmers guard their fields in shifts to prevent theft.

Egypt: The UN says that household expenditure has risen 50 per cent since January; strikes in flour-mills, textile factories, universities and health service led to the country's first-ever call for a general strike on 6 April, initiated by textile-workers in the Nile Delta; police arrest nearly 100 activists and clash with protesting workers who set fire to two schools.

Cameroon: Anger over rising prices fused with opposition to a constitutional change extending presidential term limits, causing riots in February; at least 40 people died in a crackdown - rights organisations put the death toll at over 100.

Burkina Faso: Unions call a two-day general strike on 8 April, demand 25 per cent pay rises and lower indirect taxes; this after riots occurred in three major cities in February, during which government offices were  attacked and shops, cars and petrol stations set on fire.

Haiti: President René Preval cut rice prices by 15 per cent and parliament removed Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis after a week of riots in which five people died and 200 were injured; thousands took to the streets and UN troops fired into the air when protestors stormed the presidential palace.