(SomaliNet) Thousands of angry people have on Sunday rallied in Somalia capital Mogadishu in protest of the Ethiopian air strikes in parts of Somalia killing civilians. The people took the streets of Mogadishu forcing all business centers to close down and go for the front against the Ethiopian troops who are fighting with the Islamists in number of fronts in Bay, Hiran and Mudug regions. Here in Mogadishu, people were very tense and angered by the Ethiopian air strikes on Somalia as most of the local FM radios were airing patriotic songs stirring up the people to die for the defense of the territory against what they called ‘the Ethiopian occupiers’.
The anti Ethiopian rallies have also taken place in Lower Juba and Hiran region in Somalia where the Somalis vowed to go against the Ethiopian invaders. In Kismayo, the southern port city of Somalia and capital of Lower Juba region, hundreds of pro-Islamist demonstrators gathered at the main public square in the town chanting ant Ethiopia slogans. In Beledwein, the provincial capital of Hiran in central of Somalia, hundreds of protestors demonstrated their anger over the Ethiopian air strikes on the town vowing to join the war with Ethiopian troops. Hundreds of volunteers are now registering to join the Islamist declared Jihad on Ethiopia as fighting intensifies more heavily.
The rallies came hours after around eight war planes belonged to Ethiopian air forces raided inside Beleweine and its residential areas targeting Islamist positions to weaken their power and people began fleeing to escape the shelling. Heavy armed Ethiopian troops backed by war planes and tanks cut off the main Kala-Bayrka road linking Beledwein to central region of Mudug which is a key to Islamic Courts Union fighters. This aimed to damage the Islamists power and not gain reinforcement.