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| Africa North |
| Clashes Erupt in Libyan Capital between Rival Protests |
| 2013-05-05 |
| [An Nahar] Clashes erupted in the Libyan capital on Friday between crowds demonstrating against militias in the city and supporters of a law to exclude Qadaffy-era officials from top government jobs, an AFP journalist said. Several hundred people gathered in Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... 's central Algeria Square to protest against militias that have been laying siege to the justice and foreign ministries to call for the sacking of officials from the ousted regime of Muammar Qadaffy ... one of those little rainstorms from the Arab Spring... Protesters waved placards reading "The era of the militias is over" and "Attacks on the ministries are attacks on the Libyan people" as well as "No to weapons, yes to dialogue." The crowd marched to Martyrs' Square where they clashed with demonstrators calling for the adoption of the law to exclude Qadaffy-era officials from top government posts, although no one was hurt. The main demonstration then left the square for the prime minister's office to "express Tripolitans' solidarity with the government and the legitimate authorities in the country," an organizer said. Libya's army had taken up positions earlier on Friday at strategic sites around the capital, and soldiers in pickup trucks mounted with machineguns were also deployed on Martyrs' Square ahead of the protests. Meanwhile, ...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors... in the eastern city of Benghazi, gunnies waving guns broke up a protest by a group demonstrating against the sieges of government ministries in Tripoli, activist Mabrouka al-Mesmari said. "There were 15 of us at the demonstration. A group of armed gunnies came and stopped us from gathering and threatened us with their weapons," she said. Gunmen in Tripoli have encircled the Foreign Ministry since Sunday and the justice ministry since Tuesday, to demand that the General National Congress (GNC) adopt a bill that would purge former officials of the ousted regime of Muammar Qadaffy. The same groups, most of them former rebels who fought to oust Qadaffy in 2011, briefly occupied the finance ministry on Monday. |
| Posted by:Fred |