Bahrain Mirror: Butchers of the Manama central meat market said that they received a threat from representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism stating that they will close their shops and withdraw their records in case they continue their labor strike. No customers showed up in the market after the butchers decided not to buy meat and returned the meat to the Bahrain Livestock Company responsible for providing meat to the market on a daily basis.

Inspectors from the Ministry of Health along with security men and representative from the department of consumer protection visited the market to check the safety of meat.

The butchers said that the strike was launched after they suffered great losses as citizens and restaurant owners stopped buying meat after the implementation of the decision to lift subsidies on meat. They also asked about the guarantee the government will provide them if they returned to work, as they will have to bear purchase costs in addition to their losses from the boycott campaign.

The butchers stressed that restaurant owners stopped buying meats and told them that customers boycotted their sales, thinking that the prices increased, thus their goods accumulated. They also pointed out that customers leaned towards buying alternative goods such as fish, chicken and shrimps.

They stressed that the rate of sales did not exceed 1%.

On another note, the butchers were also surprised to see security men entering the market accompanied by employees from the meat safety department in the Ministry of Health, claiming that they received a complaint stating "there is rotten meat being sold in the Manama market."

The examination proved that the alleged complaint was not true.

It is noteworthy that the Muharraq butchers have stopped buying and selling meat since more than a week and no threats were raised against them.

Arabic Issue