Pig farmers threw rocks at police officers in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday as health workers gathered the farmers' herds for slaughter in what the government says is a precaution against the spread of swine flu, an interior ministry official told CNN.

Brig. Gen. Hani Abdel-Latif said 50 to 60 protesters gathered in Cairo's Manshiyet Naser slum because they were upset with the health ministry's decision to slaughter all pigs in the country.

But local media reported the number of farmers clashing with police on Sunday was in the hundreds.

Experts have criticized the Egyptian government's move, announced last week, to slaughter all pigs regardless of whether they are infected.

There have been no confirmed cases of the virus in Egypt.

And according to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, humans cannot get the swine flu virus, known to scientists as the H1N1 virus, by eating pork. The CDC says human infection from pigs most likely occurs when people are in close proximity to sick animals, such as in pig barns.

But Egyptian officials cite how avian flu still exists in the country because, they say, the government did not take sufficient protective measures when that disease was first discovered there in 2006.

Most Egyptian pig farmers are Coptic Christians, a group that makes up about 10 percent of the 80 million people in the mostly Muslim nation. Coptic Christians do not observe the Muslim ban on eating pork, and historically they have coexisted peacefully with the Muslim majority in Egypt.

The farmers also work in the garbage industry and use their daily collections to feed their herds, which number about 300,000 animals in the country.

With the government-mandated slaughter under way, Egypt's Health Ministry declared Saturday that "Egypt is free of the swine flu."

Dr. Hamid Samaha, head of the country's Public Institute for Veterinary Services, said that starting Sunday the government will compensate pig farmers by paying as much as $45 for a disease-free pig and about $5 for diseased ones.

The health ministry told CNN its workers are freezing all the disease-free meat and plan to give it back to its owners once the ban on pigs is lifted. But according to Egypt's state-run al-Akhbar newspaper, ministry sources said the country does not have enough facilities to store the frozen meat. Ministry spokesman Dr. Abdel-Rahman Shaheen said the government will open two new slaughterhouses in two provinces near Cairo, al-Alioubiya and al-Giza.

Shaheen also announced Saturday that the ministry has enlisted 100 additional doctors and nurses to help in health quarantines at Cairo Airport, where travelers are being questioned if they have been to Mexico recently. And more are expected to be hired to help at Alexandra's main seaport, where the government declared a state of emergency last week.

内政部的一位官员告诉电视新闻网（CNN）说，周日，猪农们在埃及开罗向警察投掷石块，因为卫生工作人员集中农民的畜群进行宰杀，政府称其是为了预防猪流感的传播。
　　
哈尼 阿卜杜勒-拉迪夫准将说，50 到 60 名抗议者聚集在开罗 Manshiyet Naser 贫民窟，他们因为卫生部决定宰杀这个国家所有的猪而惊惶不安。
　　
但是当地媒体报道，周日与警方发生冲突的农民数量为数百人。

专家们批评埃及政府的行为，政府上周宣布屠宰所有的猪，不论牠们是否被感染。
　　
目前在埃及还没有证实猪流感病毒的案例。
　　
但是根据建立在美国的疾病控制与预防中心的说法，人类不会经由吃猪肉而感染猪流感病毒这种科学家已知为 H1N1 的病毒。美国疾病控制与预防中心说，人类来自猪的感染最可能发生在人们与生病的动物密切接触时，例如在猪棚。
　　
但是埃及官员援引说禽流感如何仍然在这个国家存在，是因为政府在 2006 年首次发现这种疾病时没有采取足够的防护措施。
　　
大多数埃及猪农是科普特基督教徒，这是在这个大多数为穆斯林的国家里，占 8 千万人中大约百分之十的一个群体。科普特基督教徒不遵守穆斯林有关吃猪肉的禁令，历史上他们与埃及的穆斯林多数一直和平共处。
　　
这些农民们还工作在垃圾产业，并且利用他们的日常收集物养活他们的畜群，在这个国家，这些动物的数量大约有 30 万头。
　　
在正在进行政府指令的屠宰的同时，埃及卫生部周六宣布：“埃及没有猪流感。”
　　
分管该国公众兽医服务协会的哈米德 萨马哈博士说，周日开始，政府将按健康的猪支付高达 45 美元以及有病的猪支付大约 5 美元来补偿猪农。
　　
卫生部告诉 CNN 说，它的工人们正在冷冻无病的肉，并且计划在一旦解除猪的禁令时将其返回给它的主人。但是根据埃及官方消息报的报道，卫生部说过这个国家没有足够的设施来存放冻肉。这个部的发言人阿卜杜勒-拉赫曼 沙欣博士说，政府将在开罗附近的两个省阿略比亚和阿吉萨开放两个新的屠宰场。
　　
沙欣在周六还宣布，卫生部已经额外招聘 100 名医生和护士在开罗机场帮助检疫，在那里，旅客们被询问是否他们最近去过墨西哥。预期还有更多的人要被雇用，在亚历山大主要港口提供帮助，政府上周宣布那里进入紧急状态。