Protesters demanding Moammar Gadhafi\u2019s ouster came under a hail of bullets Friday when pro-regime militiamen opened fire to stop the first significant anti-government marches in days in the Libyan capital. The Libyan leader, speaking from the ramparts of a historic Tripoli fort, told supporters to prepare to defend the nation.<\/p>\n
Witnesses reported multiple deaths from gunmen on rooftops and in the streets shooting automatic weapons and even an anti-aircraft gun at crowds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the first wave of fire, seven people within 10 meters of me were killed. Many people were shot in the head,\u201d one man who marching from Tripoli\u2019s eastern Tajoura district, told The Associated Press. \u201cIt was really like we are dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Also Friday evening, troops loyal to Gadhafi attacked a major air base east of Tripoli that had fallen into the rebellion\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n
A force of tanks attacked the Misrata Air Base, succeeding in retaking part of it in battles with local residents and army units who had joined the anti-Gadhafi uprising, said a doctor and one resident wounded in the battle on the edge of opposition-held Misrata, Libya\u2019s third largest city, about 200 kilometers from the capital.<\/p>\n
During the fighting, the opposition captured two, including a senior officer and still held part of the large base, they said. Shooting could still be heard from the area after midnight. The doctor said 22 people were killed in two days of fighting at the air base and an adjacent civilian airport.<\/p>\n
In Washington, the White House announced it was moving forward with plans to impose unilateral sanctions on Libya in response to the regime\u2019s bloody crackdown on the 11-day-old uprising across the country. Hundreds have been killed, but rebels have taken control of nearly the entire eastern half of the country, as well as cities close to Gadhafi\u2019s stronghold in the capital.<\/p>\n
White House spokesman said it is clear that Gadhafi\u2019s legitimacy has been \u201creduced to zero,\u201d the Obama administration\u2019s sharpest words yet.<\/p>\n
The U.N. Security Council met to consider possible sanctions against Gadhafi\u2019s regime, including trade sanctions and an arms embargo. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged it take \u201cconcrete action\u201d to protect civilians in Libya, saying \u201cthe violence must stop\u201d and those responsible for \u201cso brutally shedding blood\u201d must be punished.<\/p>\n
But Gadhafi vowed to fight on. In the evening, he appeared before a crowd over more than 1,000 supporters massed in Green Square and called on them to fight back against protesters and \u201cdefend the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRetaliate against them, retaliate against them,\u201d Gadhafi said, speaking by microphone from the ramparts of the Red Castle, a Crusader fort overlooking the square. Wearing a fur cap, he shook his fist in the air, telling the crowd, \u201cDance, sing and prepare. Prepare to defend Libya, to defend the oil, dignity and independence.\u201d<\/p>\n
He warned, \u201cAt the suitable time we will open the arms depot so all Libyans and tribes become armed, so that Libya becomes red with fire.\u201d The crowd waved pictures of the leader and green flags as he said, \u201cI am in the middle of the people in the Green Square. … This is the people that loves Moammar Gadhafi. If the people of Libya and the Arabs and Africans don\u2019t love Moammar Gadhafi then Moammar Gadhafi does not deserve to live.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier his son, Seif al-Islam, was asked in an interview with CNNTurk about the options in the face of the unrest. \u201cPlan A is to live and die in Libya, Plan B is to live and die in Libya, Plan C is to live and die in Libya,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n
The marches in the capital were the first major attempt by protesters to break a clampdown that pro-Gadhafi militiamen have imposed on Tripoli since the beginning of the week, when dozens were killed by gunmen roaming the street, shooting people on sight.<\/p>\n
In the morning and night before, SMS messages were sent around urging protesters to stream out of mosques after noon prayers, saying, \u201cLet us make this Friday the Friday of liberation,\u201d residents said. The residents and witnesses all spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.<\/p>\n
In response, militiamen set up heavy security around many mosques in the city, trying to prevent any opposition gatherings. Armed young men with green armbands to show their support of Gadhafi set up checkpoints on many streets, stopping cars and searching them. Tanks and checkpoints lined the road to Tripoli\u2019s airport, witnesses said.<\/p>\n
After prayers, protesters flowed out of mosques, converging into marches from several neighborhoods heading toward Green Square. But they were hit almost immediately by militiamen, a mix of Libyans and foreign mercenaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t see where it is coming from,\u201d another protester from Tajoura district\u2014several kilometers from Green Square\u2014said of the gunfire. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to stop.\u201d He said a man next to him was shot in the neck.<\/p>\n
In the nearby Souq al-Jomaa district, witnesses reported four killed as gunmen fired down from rooftops. \u201cThere are all kind of bullets,\u201d said one man in the crowd, screaming in a telephone call to The Associated Press, with the rattle of gunfire audible in the background. Another protester was reported killed in the Fashloum district. The reports could not be independently confirmed.<\/p>\n
After nightfall, protesters dispersed, and regime supporters prowled the streets, a Tripoli resident said. As they have past nights this week, many blockaded streets into their neighborhoods to prevent militiamen and strangers from entering.<\/p>\n
Tripoli, home to about a third of Libya\u2019s population of 6 million, is the center of the eroding territory that Gadhafi still controls. The opposition holds a long sweep of about half of Libya\u2019s 1,600-kilometer Mediterranean coastline where most of the population lives.<\/p>\n
Even in the Gadhafi-held pocket of northwestern Libya around Tripoli, several cities have also fallen into the hands of the rebellion. Militiamen and pro-Gadhafi troops were repelled Thursday when they launched attacks trying to take back opposition-held territory in Zawiya and Misrata, near the capital, in fighting that killed at least 30 people.<\/p>\n
Support for Gadhafi continued to fray within a regime where he long commanded unquestioned loyalty.<\/p>\n
Libya\u2019s delegation to the United Nations in Geneva announced Friday it was defecting to the opposition\u2014and it was given a standing ovation at a gathering of the U.N. Human Rights Council. They join a string of Libyan ambassadors and diplomats around the world who abandoned the regime, as have the justice and interior ministers at home, and one of Gadhafi\u2019s cousins and closest aides, Ahmed Gadhaf al-Dam, who sought refuge in Egypt.<\/p>\n
Libya\u2019s 11-member Arab League mission also announced its resignation in protest at the crackdown<\/p>\n
On a visit to Turkey, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the violence by pro-Gadhafi forces is unacceptable and should not go unpunished.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr Gadhafi must go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The New York-based Human Rights Watch has put the death toll in Libya at nearly 300, according to a partial count from several days ago. Italy\u2019s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said estimates of some 1,000 people killed were \u201ccredible.\u201d<\/p>\n
The upheaval in the OPEC nation has taken most of Libya\u2019s oil production of 1.6 million barrels a day off the market. Oil prices hovered above $98 a barrel Friday in Asia, backing away from a spike to $103 the day before amid signs the crisis in Libya may have cut crude supplies less than previously estimated.<\/p>\n
The opposition camp says it is in control of two of Libya\u2019s major oil ports\u2014Breqa and Ras Lanouf\u2014on the Gulf of Sidra in central Libya. A resident of Ras Lanouf said Friday that the security force guarding that port had joined the rebellion and were helping guard it, along with residents of the area.<\/p>\n
Several tens of thousands held a rally in support of the Tripoli protesters in the main square of Libya\u2019s second-largest city, Benghazi, where the revolt began, about 940 kilometers east of the capital along the Mediterranean coast.<\/p>\n
Tents were set up and residents served breakfast to people, many carrying signs in Arabic and Italian. Others climbed on a few tanks parked nearby, belonging to army units in the city that allied with the rebellion.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not stop this rally until Tripoli is the capital again,\u201d said Omar Moussa, a demonstrator. \u201cLibyans are all united … Tripoli is our capital. Tripoli is in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muslim cleric Sameh Jaber led the prayers in the square, telling worshippers that Libyans \u201chave revolted against injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGod take revenge from Moammar Gadhafi because of what he did to the Libyan people,\u201d the cleric, wearing traditional Libyan white uniform and a red cap, said in remarks carried by Al-Jazeera TV. \u201cGod accept our martyrs and make their mothers, fathers and families patient.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Union\u2019s foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said Friday that the bloc needs to consider sanctions such as travel restrictions and an asset freeze against Libya to achieve a halt to the violence there and move toward democracy.<\/p>\n
NATO\u2019s main decision-making body met in emergency session Friday to consider the deteriorating situation. It said it would continue to monitor the crisis, but that it will not intervene. Participants at the NATO meeting decided it would be premature to discuss deployments or a no-fly zone over Libya, said a diplomat familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n
The U.N.\u2018s top human rights official, Navi Pillay, meanwhile, said reports of mass killings of thousands in Libya should spur the international community to \u201cstep in vigorously\u201d to end the crackdown against anti-government protesters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Protesters demanding Moammar Gadhafi\u2019s ouster came under a hail of bullets Friday when pro-regime militiamen opened fire to stop the first significant anti-government marches in days in the Libyan capital. The Libyan leader, speaking from the ramparts of a historic Tripoli fort, told supporters to prepare to defend the nation. Witnesses reported multiple deaths from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ubune.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}