
Puppet force of Somalia collaborators backed by Ethiopian occupation solders and protesters have exchanged fire during a demonstration in Mogadishu, leaving at least one person dead.
A puppet "government" source said the person killed in Saturday's protest is believed to have been a 13 year old boy.
A doctor at a hospital in the capital said at least 17 people had received gunshot wounds.
Protesters threw stones and burnt tyres on Saturday as they voiced their opposition to a disarmament programme and the presence of Ethiopian occupation troops.
"Not clear information how many people have been wounded.
Relatives of the 13-year-old boy blamed the puppet "Somali government" and Ethiopian occupation soldiers for his death.
"My son was from school. He was going with some people who were demonstrating. Some government troops and Ethiopian forces opened fire to disperse the crowds and my son was hit by a bullet," the boy's father told AFP news agency.
"They shot him in the back and the bullet shattered his heart. This is unacceptable and an inhuman action. We don't need those Ethiopian forces with their "government" soldiers if they are shooting our children," he added.
Ethiopian soldiers entered the country in support of the weak so call "interim government" to fight the Union of Islamic Courts which had gained control of much of the country.
The courts were beaten within two weeks, with some fighters melting into the civilian populace and others trying to flee to Kenya.
The protest was the third to hit the capital since the Ethiopian forces moved into Mogadishu.
Thousands of Somalis had marched through the streets of the capital chanting "Down with Ethiopia".
Al Jazeera's correspondent in Mogadishu reported: "They [the protesters] are looking at the disarmament issue from a clan basis and arguing that they will be unable to defend themselves if they hand in their weapons."
The protests come just days after an ambush killed one Ethiopian soldier in south Somalia, and a hand grenade was thrown at Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu.
The Somali capital is flooded with small arms. The ease with which Somalis can get weapons is a major problem, and only a few were seen to be disarming under Gedi's disarmament programme.
US warships have patrolled the Somali coast to "prevent Islamic Courts fighters from escaping by sea".
Ethiopia's government has asserted that it does not intend to stay in Somalia for long, saying its forces cannot be "peacekeepers" and it cannot afford for them to stay.
More than 3,000 Islamic Courts fighters are allegedly still hiding in the capital.
Agencies