Kenyan police, people clash with Muslim protesters

By Robert Waweru and Thomas Mukoya

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenyan security forces fired assault rifles and tear gas at hundreds of Muslims protesting in the capital on Friday against the detention of Jamaican cleric Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal.

Chanting "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), the demonstrators were blocked by police with dogs as they tried to march through the heart of Nairobi after prayers at the downtown mosque.

Some Kenyans, furious the banned protest had taken place, joined forces with the police and began hurling stones at the marchers, most of whom were squeezed back towards the mosque after prolonged street skirmishes.

One protester in fatigues and a black balaclava waved the flag of al Shabaab -- the Somali rebel group that Washington accuses of being al Qaeda's proxy -- and taunted the crowds by drawing his finger across his throat in a slitting motion.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed said it was unfortunate Kenyan security had been disrupted in the name of religion.

"I am calling for Somalis to support peace, and respect their host. Kenya, like any other sovereign state, has the right to deport whoever it considers to be a national security threat," he told Reuters in Nairobi.

Faisal was deported from Britain in 2007 for preaching racial hatred and urging his audiences to kill Jews, Hindus and Westerners. He was visiting the east African nation, which has a large Somali community in Nairobi, for a preaching tour when he was taken into custody.

"One person, a Jamaican, how can he make the whole country shut down? One person, how come no one in Jamaica is defending him?" said a man in a group that charged the Muslim protesters.