Kenyan police have fired tear gas to disperse Muslim protesters who have looted shops and burned barricades for a second day in the coastal city of Mombasa. The protests follow the drive-by shooting of radical Muslim preacher Aboud Rogo Mohammed on Monday. The cleric had been accused by the UN and US of recruiting and funding Islamist fighters in Somalia.One person was killed and churches attacked in riots on Monday. Youths were fighting running battles with the police, who were using tear gas to try to disperse them, Ben Lawrence of Human Rights Watch told the BBC from Mombasa. “I saw at the end of the street... billowing smoke and running battles between police and rioters. It came towards us, down the side street where I was located. People shut up their shops and ran in the opposite direction,” he said. “There’s been shops set on fire, looting, police trying to control the situation with tear gas but so far apparently failing.” Regional police chief Aggrey Adoli said the protests were under control, AFP news agency reports.“A group of youth has been throwing stones here and there, but our officers are there to contain the situation,” he is quoted as saying. Somalia’s militant Islamist group al-Shabab condemned Mr Rogo’s killing and said Muslims in Kenya should boycott next year’s presidential election. “Muslims must take the matter into their own hands, stand united against the Kuffar [non-Muslims] and take all necessary measures to protect their religion, their honour, their property and their lives from the enemies of Islam,” it said in a statement. Police said they had launched an investigation into the killing carried out by “unknown people”. Some of the rioters accused the authorities of being behind Mr Rogo’s shooting, saying he had been the victim of a “targeted assassination”.The BBC’s Kevin Mwachiro in the capital, Nairobi, says Muslim leaders have denounced the violence, but many people are questioning how Mr Rogo could have been shot dead in broad daylight without anyone being arrested. Christians are also questioning why churches have been attacked, he says.
