|
Gaddafi flees Tripoli
 [Daily Mail] Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffy is believed to have decamped the capital Tripoli after anti-government demonstrators breached the state television building and set government property alight.Protesters appear to have gained a foothold in Tripoli as banks and government buildings were looted while demonstrators have claimed they have taken control of the second city Benghazi. It is thought up to 400 people may have died in the unrest with dozens more reported killed in Tripoli overnight as protests reached the capital for the first time and army units were said to have defected to the opposition. The Libyan justice minister has now resigned in protest at the 'excessive use of violence' against the protesters, according to the Quryna newspaper. As Europe and the U.S. condemned the regime's handling of the unrest, Qadaffy's son Saif said his family would 'fight until the last bullet'. More than 300 victims were massacred -- many by foreign mercenaries -- during the government crackdown in Libya's second city, Benghazi. Protesters were bumped off in the streets, with reports that helicopter gunships and snipers were used to suppress the uprising. The state TV headquarters in the capital Tripoli were also damaged during protests on Sunday while the AFP news agency reported several public buildings had been set alight. Al Jizz television quoted medical sources as saying 61 people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli. It said security forces were looting banks and other government institutions in Tripoli, and protesters had broken into several cop shoppes and wrecked them. The Libyan justice minister has now resigned in protest at the 'excessive use of violence' against the protesters, according to the Quryna newspaper. As Europe and the U.S. condemned the regime's handling of the unrest, Qadaffy's son Saif said his family would 'fight until the last bullet'. More than 300 victims were massacred -- many by foreign mercenaries -- during the government crackdown in Libya's second city, Benghazi. Protesters were bumped off in the streets, with reports that helicopter gunships and snipers were used to suppress the uprising. The state TV headquarters in the capital Tripoli were also damaged during protests on Sunday while the AFP news agency reported several public buildings had been set alight. Al Jizz television quoted medical sources as saying 61 people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli. It said security forces were looting banks and other government institutions in Tripoli, and protesters had broken into several cop shoppes and wrecked them. Three witnesses say protesters moved into Tripoli's central Green Square and nearby squares last night. Plain-clothes security forces and gunnies attacked in festivities that lasted until dawn. One witness said snipers opened fire from rooftops. Two others said gunnies in vehicles with photos of Col Qadaffy sped through, opening fire and running people over. The witnesses reported seeing casualties, but the number could not be confirmed. It has also been reported that 17 were maimed when Libyans stormed a South Korean-operated construction site 18 miles from the capital, with two Bangladeshi workers stabbed. Output at one of the country's oil fields was reported to have been stopped by a workers' strike and some European oil companies withdrew expatriate workers and suspended operations. With autocratic governments already toppled by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, there was a sense that Qadaffy's iron grip was being severely tested. 'Libya is the most likely candidate for civil war because the government has lost control over part of its own territory,' said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar. In the eastern city of Benghazi, protesters appeared to be largely in control after forcing troops and police to retreat to a compound. Government buildings were set ablaze and ransacked. 'People here in Benghazi are laughing at what he is saying. It is the same old story (on promised reform) and nobody believes what he says,' a lawyer in Libya's second city told the BBC after watching Saif al-Islam's speech. 'Youths with weapons are in charge of the city. There are no security forces anywhere,' University of Benghazi professor Hanaa Elgallal told Al Jizz International television. Salahuddin Abdullah, a self-described protest organiser, said: 'In Benghazi there is celebration and euphoria ... The city is no longer under military control. It is completely under demonstrators' control.' In Al Bayda, a town about 200 km (125 miles) from Benghazi, which was the scene of deadly festivities last week between protesters and security forces, a resident told Rooters protesters were also in command. Posted by: Fred 2011-02-21 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=316590 |