Anti-Islamist protests break out in Somali port

KISMAYO, Somalia, Sept 25 (Reuters) Several thousand Somalis took to the streets of the port of Kismayo today shouting anti-Islamist slogans, burning tyres and throwing stones in protests against the Islamist takeover of the city. The Islamists took over Kismayo overnight in an extension of their grip on south-central Somalia.

Residents of Somalia's third biggest city, which lies near the Kenyan border, said some arriving Islamist fighters had stirred up an already tense atmosphere by burning the Somali national flag and raising an Islamic one.

That set off protests, after the town had previously been peaceful since the Islamists rode in on battle-wagons to take Kismayo without firing a shot, they said.

''I witnessed the Somali flag being ripped apart and burned.

This is unacceptable. It will cause a big problem,'' said Mahad Abdullahi, a resident of Kismayo.

A Reuters witness saw thousands of men and women pouring on to the streets, shouting ''We don't want the Islamic Courts'' and tossing stones at trucks used by Islamist fighters.

Roads were blocked with stones and burning tyres, she said.

Somalia's interim government regards the takeover of Kismayo as a breach of an agreement it reached with the Islamists, during talks in Khartoum, to maintain a ceasefire and stop any territorial expansion.

Reuters MQA DS1432