TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Dozens of people were reported killed in Tripoli overnight as anti-government protests reached the Libyan capital for the first time and the building where the country’s parliament meets was ablaze.
One of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons said the veteran leader would fight the popular revolt that has shaken his 40-year rule until “the last man standing”.
Anti-government protesters rallied in Tripoli’s streets, tribal leaders spoke out against Gaddafi, and army units defected to the opposition in a revolt that has cost the lives of more than 200 people. Protesters said they had taken control of two other cities.
Output at one of the country’s oil fields was reported to have been stopped by a workers’ strike and some European oil companies withdrew expatriate workers and suspended operations.
With autocratic governments already toppled by popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, there was a sense that Gaddafi’s iron grip was being severely tested.
“Libya is the most likely candidate for civil war because the government has lost control over part of its own territory,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Centre in Qatar.
European nations watched developments in Libya with a growing sense of alarm after the government in Tripoli said it would suspend cooperation on stemming the flow of illegal immigrants across the Mediterranean.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, on a visit to the region, said events in Libya were appalling and unacceptable.
Al Jazeera television quoted medical sources as saying 61 people had been killed in the latest protests in Tripoli.
It said security forces were looting banks and other government institutions in Tripoli, and protesters had broken into several police stations and wrecked them.
The building where the General People’s Congress, or parliament, meets when it is in session in Tripoli was on fire this morning, a Reuters reporter said.
Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi appeared on national television in an attempt both to threaten and to calm people, saying the army would enforce security at any price to put down one of the bloodiest revolts to convulse the Arab world.
“We will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing.”
Wagging a finger at the camera, he accused Libyan exiles of fomenting the violence. But he also promised dialogue on reforms and wage rises.
In an indication of disagreement inside Libya’s ruling elite, Mohamed Bayou — who until a month ago was chief government spokesman — said the leadership was wrong to threaten violence against its opponents.
Bayou called on Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to start talks with the opposition.
