Friday, February 18, 2011

Libya protests: 'Mass gathering' in Benghazi

Witnesses in the Libyan city of Benghazi say hundreds of people, at least, have gathered for an anti-government protest.
A lawyer in Benghazi told the BBC that thousands of people were outside the city's courthouse.
Benghazi has been the scene of protests in recent days, with reports that at least 14 people were killed in clashes with security forces on Thursday.
Large protests are rare in Libya, where dissent is rarely allowed.
Pro-democracy protests have recently swept through several Arab nations, with the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt forced from power amid growing unrest.
The US-based Human Rights Watch said at least 24 people had been killed across Libya in unrest on Wednesday and Thursday.
Many others were wounded in the clashes between security forces and protesters, the campaign group said.

Witnesses told the BBC there were no police at the protest at the courthouse, though there were security forces on nearby sidestreets.
The protesters said they planned to march to the hospital later to take 23 bodies to the cemetery.

The witness reports could not be confirmed by the BBC.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Cairo says violent confrontations are reported to have spread to five Libyan cities in demonstrations so far, but not yet to Tripoli, the capital, in any large numbers.
Funerals of some of those killed are expected to be held on Friday in Benghazi and al-Bayda, which correspondents say could spur more protests.
Activists supporting Libya's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, have also been out on the streets in Tripoli, chanting pro-government slogans in Green Square.
Col Gaddafi briefly visited the square in the early hours of Friday, according to images aired by state TV, AFP news agency reports.
He is the Arab world's longest-serving leader, having ruled oil-rich Libya since a coup in 1969.

Source: BBC

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