AFP - Saturday, January 16

Muslims carry an injured protester during a demonstration demanding the release of Jamaican cleric sheikh
Abdullah al-Faisal after Friday prayers in Nairobi, January 15. At least
two people were killed Friday when Kenyan police fired live rounds and
teargas to suppress the protest, a hospital source said.

NAIROBI (AFP) - – At least five people were killed Friday when Kenyan
police fired live rounds and teargas to suppress a protest by Muslims
demanding the release of a radical Jamaican cleric, police said.

"Five people have died, some of them have been shot and there are those
with other injuries but we cannot really tell who shot them because some
of the protestors were armed and were shooting at our officers," said a
senior police officer who asked not to be named.

"Four of our police officers have been wounded and admitted to
hospital," he added.

Anti-riot police battled scores of stone-throwing protestors, shouting
"Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and waving banners that read "Release
Al Faisal, he is innocent."

Abdullah al-Faisal, who is on a global terror watchlist and served four
years in a British jail for inciting racial hatred, has been in Kenyan
custody since last week after the authorities tried and failed to deport
him.

Police charged at the rioters, surrounded the Jamiah mosque in central
Nairobi and used water cannon to repel them as an ambulance picked up
injured people, including some reporters.

An AFP photographer saw one demonstrator firing back at police from
inside the mosque compound in battles that began after Friday prayers
and lasted several hours.

"War against Muslims is intolerable," read one placard, while a
protestor waved a black flag with an Arabic inscription and another
brandished Osama bin Laden's portrait.

Crowds of by-standers also joined the chaos, throwing rocks and calling
the Muslims, many of them of Somali descent, foreigners and chanting
"Kenya yetu," Swahili for "Kenya is ours," or "Ua," Swahili for "kill"
as the police charged.

The riot highlighted longstanding grievances by Kenya's minority Muslims
of being unfairly targeted by security forces and perceived neglect by
previous regimes in appointment to government posts.

Since the setting up of the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit in 2003, Muslim
rights groups have complained of repeated police harassment, arbitrary
arrests and rendition of Muslims suspected of terrorism.

Faisal's lawyers and rights groups have complained that the cleric is
being held without charge.

The December 31 arrest of Faisal, who police and immigration officials
said violated immigration regulations by preaching, heralded the latest
in a string of protests by the Muslims.

Faisal, 45, was arrested in Britain in 2003 after spending years urging
his audiences to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners.

Kenya's attempts to deport the cleric, first to Tanzania and then to
Gambia have failed due to the refusal by authorities and airlines to
grant him entry.

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