Tense calm returns to Mogadishu

A tense calm has returned to Mogadishu following a day of demonstrations, a local source told IRIN. Thousands of people took to the streets of the city on Tuesday to protest against the refusal by traders to accept the 500 Somali shilling banknote.

Sources in Mogadishu said that the demonstrations, which began peacefully, turned violent when bandits infiltrated the demonstrators to take advantage of the situation in order to steal and to loot businesses.

Security guards for businesses who were attacked by the mob fired and reportedly killed two people and injured over a dozen, Ahmad Abdi, a local businessman, told IRIN on Wednesday.

Abdi said that "calm was returning to the city", but that few public transport vehicles had ventured onto the streets for fear of being attacked. Police are reported to be out in force removing barricades and roadblocks erected on Tuesday the by demonstrators.

In a radio address, the president of the Transitional National Government (TNG) had called on the public to remain calm, the TNG director of information, Abdirahman Dinari, told IRIN.

The president reminded members of the business community that they were required by law to accept the 500 shilling note, because it was legal tender, according to Dinari. The controversial banknote was now back in circulation and being universally accepted, Ahmad Abdi said.