The following is an Al Jazeera report on the position in Libya. You can get good coverage of events there from Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, the Guardian as well as several well known commentators. Some of these views are in video interviews at the Real News site. Links to these sites are http://english.aljazeera.net/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/ http://therealnews.com/t2/ http://www.democracynow.org/ Please remember that many of these sites depend on donations so give them a hand if you can. The latest Al Jazeera report follows. (George Ikners ikners.com a Joomla powered site of political and social views)
Tens of thousands of protesters across Libya focused their attention on the capital on Friday afternoon, following the midday prayer. As demonstrators in Tripoli took to the street, security forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, reportedly began firing on them. At least six had been killed, according to the Associated Press news agency. There was heavy gun fire in various Tripoli districts including Fashloum, Ashour, Jumhouria and Souq Al, sources told Al Jazeera.
“The security forces fired indiscriminately on the demonstrators,” said a resident of one of the capital’s eastern suburbs that has seen previous clashes between opponents of the regime and its remaining loyalists. “There were deaths in the streets of Sug al-Jomaa,” the resident said.
In the east of the country, Al Jazeera’s correspondent, who cannot be named for security reasons, reported on Friday that army commanders who had renounced Gaddafi’s leadership had told her that military commanders in the country’s west, which Gaddafi still largely maintains control over, were beginning to turn against him.
They warned, however, that the Khamis Brigade, an army special forces brigade that is loyal to the Gaddafi family and is equipped with sophisticated weaponry, is currently still fighting anti-government forces.The protests come a day after Gaddafi spoke on state television, accusing al-Qaeda for fermenting the uprising and drugging and brainwashing the country’s youth. [The entire speech is available here.]
The death toll since violence began remains unclear, though on Thursday Francois Zimeray, France’s top human rights official, said it could be as high as 2,000 people killed.
Pro-democracy protesters attacked
On Friday morning, our correspondents reported that the town of Zuwarah was, according to witnesses, abandoned by security forces and completely in the hands of anti-Gaddafi protesters. Checkpoints in the country’s west on roads leading to the Tunisian border, however, were still being controlled by Gaddafi loyalists.
In the east, similar checkpoints were manned by anti-Gaddafi forces, who had set up a “humanitarian aid corridor” as well as a communications corridor to the Egyptian border, our correspondent reported.
Thousands massed in Az Zawiyah’s Martyr’s Square after the attack, calling on Gaddafi to leave office, and on Friday morning, explosions were heard in the city. Witnesses say pro-Gaddafi forces were blowing up arms caches, in order to prevent anti-government forces from acquiring those weapons.
Clashes were also reported in the city of Misurata, located 200km east of Tripoli, where witnesses said a pro-Gaddafi army brigade attacked the city’s airport with mortars and rocket-propelled grenades.
They told Al Jazeera that pro-democracy protesters had managed to fight off that attack. “Revolutionaries have driven out the security forces,” they said, adding that “heavy machine guns and anti-aircraft guns” had been used against them.
Mohamed Senussi, a resident of Misurata, said calm had returned to the city after the “fierce battle” near the airport. “The people’s spirits here are high, they are celebrating and chanting ‘God is Greatest’,” he told the Reuters news agency by telephone. Another witness warned, however, that protesters in Misurata felt “isolated” as they were surrounded by nearby towns still in Gaddafi’s control.
Government loses oil terminals
Protesters and air force personnel who have renounced Gaddafi’s leadership also overwhelmed a nearby military base where Gaddafi loyalists were taking refuge, according to a medical official at the base. They disabled air force fighter jets at the base so that they could not be used against protesters.
Soldiers helped anti-Gaddafi protesters take the oil terminal in the town of Berga, according to Reuters.
The oil refinery in Ras Lanuf has halted its operations and most staff has left, according to a source in the company.
You can read the full report at http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/2011225133345917205.html
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George Ikners ikners.com a Joomla powered site of political and social views
George Ikners ikners.com a Joomla powered site of political and social views
George Ikners ikners.com a Joomla powered site of political and social views
George Ikners ikners.com a Joomla powered site of political and social views