MINNEAPOLIS
Going from prayer to protest, more than 1,000 Somalis took time out Saturday from one of their major holidays to denounce the entry of Ethiopian troops into their native country.
After attending mosque for the Muslim celebration of Eid al-Adha earlier in the day, Somalis huddled in the soggy cold of Peavey Park in Minneapolis, singing, chanting and holding up signs that said, "Ethiopia out of Somalia," and "Their pain is our pain."
Thousands of Ethiopian troops entered Somalia before Christmas, bombing two airports and then taking over the capital city of Mogadishu on Friday.
The city had been under the control of the Union of Islamic Courts, a group denounced by U.S. officials as terrorists but lauded by many of those gathered at the rally.
"The Islamic Courts are not terrorists!" said Hassan Mohamud, president of the Somali Institute for Peace and Justice, which organized the protest. Speaking to the crowd, which was arranged in a large circle, the men on one side, the women on the other, he said, "Ethiopian troops are terrorists!"
The country's U.N.-recognized transitional government, which has been considered weak at best, invited the Ethiopians into Somalia. And many local Somalis said earlier this week that they celebrated the arrival of the troops.
A supporter of Ethiopian troops entering Somalia wandered into the group in the Phillips neighborhood park but was quickly escorted out by police, to the cheers of the crowd.
"He was creating a disturbance, and he had made reference to al-Qaida," said Minneapolis police Lt. Rick Thomas. "It was obvious that he was here to cause trouble."
The Bush administration also has come out in support of the Ethiopian offensive, a stance criticized by many at the rally.
"The thing Bush is doing is not right," said Farhia Siad, 27, who came from Somalia with her two children. She said she was offended that those who supported the Islamists were labeled terrorists.
After they kicked out an alliance of CIA-backed warlords from Mogadishu six months ago, the Islamic Courts opened the airports and the checkpoints, outlawed the widespread sale and consumption of the drug khat and brought the first peace the capital had seen in years, Somalis at the rally said.
"They made the whole country a respectable place," said Salah Warsame, 47, of Minneapolis, another of the rally's organizers. "Once they started being accepted throughout the country, the enemies of Somalia started getting worried."
He said his sister, who still lives in Mogadishu, told him during a phone call that her family had been indoors for three days, afraid to venture out of their house.
Minnesota's Somali population was estimated at more than 25,000 in 2004. Many of those at the rally said that, while they love and appreciate Minnesota, they want Americans to recognize the ties they still have to their homeland.
Sadia Egal, 24, of Minneapolis, said she had airline reservations to visit her parents in Mogadishu on Jan. 16, but they told her that the violence made it too dangerous for her to come. More than 1,000 people have been killed in fighting across the country since Dec. 20, the New York Times reported.
Egal noted the contrast of the religious holiday and fighting in her homeland.
"It's supposed to be a happy day," Egal said.
Emily Gurnon can be reached at egurnon at pioneerpress.comor 651-228-5522.
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