Iran Video Feature: The Unemployed and Hungry Beg Ahmadinejad for Help

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Vivid footage from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Hormozgan Province in southern Iran on Saturday --- as the President, en route to a speech, waves to bystanders from his motorcade, people try to give him written notes with appeals for help.

An elderly man shouts, “I’m hungry, I’m hungry." A young woman in a black chador scrambles on the hood of Ahmadinejad's car until she is face-to-face with the President. She complains about economic hardships; he listens for a moment before she is moved on.

A couple of notes on the video: it is common for Iranians to make these dramatic appeals to Ahmadinejad on his tours. An EA correspondent from Iran explains, "This may appear strange to foreigners, but an emotional outburst in a desperate situation is absolutely normal, for example, at mourning ceremonies."

And, perhaps perversely, the approach to the President --- even though his Government is blamed by many for the Islamic Republic's current economic woes and in one of the poorest parts of Iran --- can be seen as a sign of his strength amid political manoeuvres within the system. Our correspondent continues, "This has been Ahmadinejad's populist policy, presenting himself as a saviour to poor people for the past seven years. Very humiliating but true."