Posted on 06/24/2006 4:05:51 PM PDT by ShorelineMike
Mogadishu - Islamist gunmen shot in the air to disperse hundreds of angry Somalis on Saturday, protesting against moves by sharia courts in Mogadishu to stop them watching the World Cup.
Tearing down telephone wires and hurling stones, about 300 protesters, mostly young Somalis, marched through the capital's streets in a demonstration organised by owners of the makeshift cinemas which have been airing the tournament.
The Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took control of Mogadishu earlier this month.
It began pulling the power on television screens in public places during the France-Togo match in Mogadishu's Gubta area on Friday.
"We will continue the revolt until the Islamic courts take back this horrible decision," said Omar Diirane, a cinema owner and one of the protest's organisers.
Earlier this month, Islamist militia broke up another demonstration when a similar ban in another area of the city ignited protests.
"The Islamic Courts Union dismantled all western practices in the capital including the watching of the World Cup," said Sheikh Abdullah Moallim, an ICU official.
While the ICU has brought relative peace and stability to Mogadishu for the first time in years, residents say some Islamist militia are imposing hard-line practices like forcibly cutting hair and making women cover their heads and faces.
"The Islamic Courts have started oppressing," said 20-year-old Sahro Abdi. "To oppress the people is a bad habit."
Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the moderate face of the ICU, has denied accusations his organisation wants to establish a Taliban-style rule in Somalia.
And we say "oil and water don't mix;" clearly, neither do "Sharia and soccer," at least not in Mogadishu.
Seems that almost everything is against Sharia law except bouncing your forehead off the floor five times a day!
That, and bouncing someone else's freshly-lopped-off forehead off the floor five times a day …
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