Food price riots break out in Somalia

Tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, today, hurling stones that smashed car windows and prompted hundreds of shops to close.

An Associated Press reporter saw several people injured in the protest in Mogadishu.

The protesters included women and children, who began marching to protest against the refusal of traders to accept old 1,000-shilling notes, which they charged 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.