Tens Of Thousands riot over high food prices
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Tens Of Thousands riot over high food prices*
* Associated Press
* guardian.co.uk,
* Monday May 5 2008
Tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia's
capital today, hurling stones that smashed car windows and prompted
hundreds of shops to close.
Several people were injured in the protest in Mogadishu. The protesters
included women and children, who began marching to protest at the
refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, which they
claimed was causing inflation.
Soon after, tens of thousands of people took to the streets, hurling
stones that smashed the windshields of several cars and buses.
Rocks also were thrown at shops, and chaos erupted at the capital's main
Bakara market.
Hundreds of shops and restaurants in southern Mogadishu closed their
doors for fear of looting.
Skyrocketing food prices, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable
weather and growing demand from India and China's burgeoning middle
classes, have sparked sometimes violent protests in the Caribbean,
Africa and Asia in recent months.