Islamicists Take Strong Stand re: World Cup
I am not personally a big fan of the World cup, but this seems a little too strict for me.
Bob Clasen
Somali Islamist militia kill two over World Cup
By Mohamed Ali Bile
Reuters
Wednesday, July 5, 2006; 12:14 PM
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist militia shot dead two people demanding to watch the World Cup semi-final, witnesses said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of a hardline religious edge to the newly powerful movement.
Four others were wounded in the fracas outside a cinema.
The Islamists, who kicked U.S.-backed warlords out of Mogadishu then took control of a large swathe of southern Somalia last month, initially sought to project a moderate image but have been increasingly showing a more radical side.
Tuesday night's shooting came when militiamen in the central town of Dusa Mareb -- the home area of the Islamists' hardline leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- shut a cinema showing the Germany-Italy semi-final, inhabitants told Reuters.
"They stood in front of the cinema and told the cinema to shut down quickly," resident Muhubo Warsame said by phone.
When the mainly young audience began a demonstration outside, the gunmen first shot into the air, but their bullets also killed two and wounded four others, the witnesses said. The fatalities were the cinema owner and a young girl.
"Islam does not accept killing an innocent person without reason," Elmi Abdullahi, a local elder, told Reuters.
"We support the Islamic courts, yet our children are dying without reason," added another elder, who asked not to be named.
There have been numerous other reports of militia from the Islamic sharia courts -- out of which the movement grew -- stopping viewings of the World Cup, provoking public protests.
Islamist leaders say that is not their policy, but rather the work of over-zealous militiamen.
The Islamist militia see World Cup gatherings as a potential magnet for vices like rowdiness or chewing of the popular and mildly narcotic qat leaf.
Bob Clasen
Somali Islamist militia kill two over World Cup
By Mohamed Ali Bile
Reuters
Wednesday, July 5, 2006; 12:14 PM
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somali Islamist militia shot dead two people demanding to watch the World Cup semi-final, witnesses said on Wednesday, in the latest sign of a hardline religious edge to the newly powerful movement.
Four others were wounded in the fracas outside a cinema.
The Islamists, who kicked U.S.-backed warlords out of Mogadishu then took control of a large swathe of southern Somalia last month, initially sought to project a moderate image but have been increasingly showing a more radical side.
Tuesday night's shooting came when militiamen in the central town of Dusa Mareb -- the home area of the Islamists' hardline leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys -- shut a cinema showing the Germany-Italy semi-final, inhabitants told Reuters.
"They stood in front of the cinema and told the cinema to shut down quickly," resident Muhubo Warsame said by phone.
When the mainly young audience began a demonstration outside, the gunmen first shot into the air, but their bullets also killed two and wounded four others, the witnesses said. The fatalities were the cinema owner and a young girl.
"Islam does not accept killing an innocent person without reason," Elmi Abdullahi, a local elder, told Reuters.
"We support the Islamic courts, yet our children are dying without reason," added another elder, who asked not to be named.
There have been numerous other reports of militia from the Islamic sharia courts -- out of which the movement grew -- stopping viewings of the World Cup, provoking public protests.
Islamist leaders say that is not their policy, but rather the work of over-zealous militiamen.
The Islamist militia see World Cup gatherings as a potential magnet for vices like rowdiness or chewing of the popular and mildly narcotic qat leaf.
Comments