Islamic youth riot in Ethiopia after Koran profanation

May 24, 2006 (ADDIS ABABA) — Islamic youth in eastern Ethiopia stoned the homes and businesses of Christians on Wednesday after taking offense at what they said was the desecration of the Koran, officials said.

Between 50 and 100 Muslims rampaged through the streets of Jijiga shouting “God is Great” after discovering that a local Christian-run restaurant was using pages of the holy book to wrap food in, the officials said.

“From the morning until mid-day, students and others were demonstrating on the streets,” an aid worker told AFP from Jijiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali region, about 720 kilometers (450 miles) east of Addis Ababa.

“They threw stones atn houses where Christians live until the police dispersed the crowd,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Police in Jijiga confirmed the rioting had occurred but stressed that there had been no deaths or injuries in the unrest, which is believed to be the such incident between Muslims and Christians in Ethiopia.

“There is nobody dead and nobody injured, the police chased the students away and the situation is quiet now,” a regional lawmaker said, citing the police commander in Jijiga.

Ethiopia’s Somali region, which borders Somalia, is majority Muslim but the majority of the Horn of Africa nation’s 77 million population, about 40 percent, are Orthodox Christians.

(ST)