Islamists ban World Cup

Islamist militiamen shot in the air to disperse hundreds of Somalis protesting early yesterday against moves by sharia courts to stop them watching the World Cup in the capital Mogadishu, residents said.

The soccer tournament had drawn huge crowds to television screens set up under trees and iron-sheeted shacks.

Witnesses said scores of young men set fire to tyres late on Friday in protests that carried on into the early hours yesterday after Islamist gunmen pulled the plug on makeshift cinemas airing the soccer tournament.

Two people were wounded when militia tried to break up the demonstrations that centred around the main livestock market in an Islamist stronghold in the capital's north, residents said.

Similar moves by Islamist militia to close cinemas and video stores in Mogadishu last November triggered heavy fighting that killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 20.

Leaders of the capital's influential Islamic courts oppose Western and Indian films which they say promote immorality in the mainly Muslim nation of 10 million people.

Some residents fear the latest move to outlaw foreign entertainment is proof the Islamists want to create a Muslim state following their victory against a self-styled anti-terrorism coalition of secular warlords, believed to be backed by Washington.

However, the World Cup ban stirred resentment among locals, already weary of the fighting in Mogadishu that has killed 350 people in three months.