Feathers flew outside Kings County Hospital as rival halal chicken vendors got into a vicious food fight that ended with one slashed and two arrested.
In one corner was Walid Osman, 32, whose cart had sold hot dogs until sometime in August.
On the same corner, Clarkson Avenue and East 37th Street, were Mohamed Hanafi and Abdelrao Akl Hamdy, whose cart had previously sold chicken 100 feet away.
When Osman changed his menu to include poultry, Hanafi and Hamdy, unhappy about the new competition, changed their location. They moved right next to their rival and cut their prices in half.
The food feud continued to simmer, and on Wednesday, Hamdy and an employee, Farajat Yehia, slashed Osman across the arm with a butcher knife, sources said.
Hamdy and Yehia were charged with assault, menacing and criminal possession of a weapon. They were released without bail after arraignment in Brooklyn court yesterday.
Osman, who has two daughters, was treated at the scene.
The Egyptian immigrant said Hanafi threatened to kill him if he didn’t move his cart.
“He wants to kill my business. I have kids and a family. He said, ‘If you don’t move your cart to another area, I will kill you,’ ” Osman told The Post.
“He has no mercy. Nobody likes him because he fights with people every day.”
He said he plans to be back running his cart today.
When Osman began selling chicken, Hanafi “got jealous and told me I had to move.”
Worse, he began selling a chicken plate for $3 and a sandwich for $2, half what Osman was charging.
Hanafi said Osman used to work for him and signed an agreement that he would never run a chicken cart. He also accused Osman of cutting himself.
Osman said he signed the agreement under duress, and the self-mutilation claim is a lie.