Fighting broke out in the city of Benghazi as unarmed protesters tried to capture a base of the Islamist militia blamed by some Libyan officials for involvement in the killing of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens.
Libyan television reported 28 casualties in the fighting yesterday at the headquarters of the Ansar al-Sharia brigade in central Benghazi. Protesters earlier took control of an Ansar al-Sharia base inside Benghazi and the base of a second militia, after a day of demonstrations against the failure of Libya’s government to discipline militias.
“We have to rid Benghazi of the militias,” said 21-year- old manager Hamza Gehani, a protester who helped storm the Abu Salem base. “We need only the army and police, we do not need the militias.”
Tensions in Benghazi have risen since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate and a second accommodation site that resulted in the deaths of four diplomats. Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur said Sept. 20 that eight Libyan nationals were arrested in connection with the consulate assault and Ansar al- Shariah was one of the groups thought to be involved.
The president of Libya’s parliament, Mohammed Yussef Magariaf, also blamed Ansar al-Sharia for involvement in the attack on the consulate.
Earlier in the day, a crowd of several thousand people gathered in Benghazi at a Rally to Save Benghazi, called to demand that government forces disarm militias including Ansar al-Sharia.
When the protest finished groups of youths moved to two nearby militia bases, one used by Ansar al-Sharia, and occupied them. There was little resistance and units of police and military police secured both bases.
Shortly after 11 p.m. local time, large groups of protesters in civilian cars drove to a second Ansar al-Sharia base at Hwari, on the southern outskirts of Benghazi.
Units inside the base opened fire on the demonstrators, said Mohammed El Gadari, an aviation student, who witnessed the shooting.
“There is firing from the base, they are firing at the civilians,” he said in a telephone interview. “The crowd is running away.”
Traffic jams around the base hampered ambulances and private cars conveying the wounded to city hospitals. Army and police units, some with pick-up trucks mounting anti-aircraft guns, struggled through the traffic to deploy around the base just after midnight local time.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the attack on the consulate compound a “terrorist attack.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stephen in Benghazi at [email protected]; Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at [email protected]
Libyan television reported 28 casualties in the fighting yesterday at the headquarters of the Ansar al-Sharia brigade in central Benghazi. Protesters earlier took control of an Ansar al-Sharia base inside Benghazi and the base of a second militia, after a day of demonstrations against the failure of Libya’s government to discipline militias.
“We have to rid Benghazi of the militias,” said 21-year- old manager Hamza Gehani, a protester who helped storm the Abu Salem base. “We need only the army and police, we do not need the militias.”
Tensions in Benghazi have risen since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate and a second accommodation site that resulted in the deaths of four diplomats. Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur said Sept. 20 that eight Libyan nationals were arrested in connection with the consulate assault and Ansar al- Shariah was one of the groups thought to be involved.
The president of Libya’s parliament, Mohammed Yussef Magariaf, also blamed Ansar al-Sharia for involvement in the attack on the consulate.
Earlier in the day, a crowd of several thousand people gathered in Benghazi at a Rally to Save Benghazi, called to demand that government forces disarm militias including Ansar al-Sharia.
When the protest finished groups of youths moved to two nearby militia bases, one used by Ansar al-Sharia, and occupied them. There was little resistance and units of police and military police secured both bases.
Shortly after 11 p.m. local time, large groups of protesters in civilian cars drove to a second Ansar al-Sharia base at Hwari, on the southern outskirts of Benghazi.
Units inside the base opened fire on the demonstrators, said Mohammed El Gadari, an aviation student, who witnessed the shooting.
“There is firing from the base, they are firing at the civilians,” he said in a telephone interview. “The crowd is running away.”
Traffic jams around the base hampered ambulances and private cars conveying the wounded to city hospitals. Army and police units, some with pick-up trucks mounting anti-aircraft guns, struggled through the traffic to deploy around the base just after midnight local time.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the attack on the consulate compound a “terrorist attack.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Christopher Stephen in Benghazi at [email protected]; Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Tighe at [email protected]