Srinagar, Aug 2 (IANS): Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) supporters participated in an anti-price rise and anti-government protest led by party leader Muhammad Yusuf Tarigami in Srinagar Thursday.

Breaking the police cordon, CPI-M supporters led by the party's state general secretary and legislator Tarigami stormed into the Press Enclave in the city, raising anti-government and anti-price rise slogans.

Speaking to IANS on the sidelines of these protests, Tarigami said: "The protest is against the new policy of food security, the bill for which is presently pending with the standing committee of the parliament".

"We believe there should be an universal public distribution system," he said.

"Our demand is that every family, irrespective of whether it is living below or above the poverty line, should be given 35 kg of food grain every month at the rate of Rs.2 a kg and the huge food grain stores where the grains are wasting should be released for this purpose."

"We also demand that the Planning Commission's highly dubious poverty estimates must be scrapped and these should not be made the basis for allotment of welfare funds," Tarigami said.

The CPI-M leader also criticised the Jammu and Kashmir government for its alleged failure to curb corruption in the state.