CAIRO — Security forces loyal to Libya's Moammar Gadhafi unleashed heavy
gunfire Sunday on thousands marching in a rebellious eastern city,
cutting down mourners trying to bury victims in a bloody cycle of
violence that has killed more than 200 people in the fiercest crackdown
on the uprisings in the Arab world.
Protests were even reported to have spread to downtown Tripoli and a
coastal city only about 45 miles (about 70 kilometers) to the west of
the capital. In Benghazi, site of the funeral clashes, pro-Gadhafi
forces were chased from a presidential compound by other troops
sympathetic to the anti-government demonstrators, a witness said.
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Western countries expressed concern at the rising violence against demonstrators in oil-rich Libya, which is sandwiched between friendly neighbors Egypt and Tunisia — where long-serving leaders were successfully toppled in recent weeks. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said hIn the first-known defection from Gadhafi's regime, Libya's
representative to the Arab League said he resigned his post to protest
his government's decision to fire on defiant demonstrators in the
second-largest city of Benghazi. Also, a major tribe in Libya was
reported to have turned against Gadhafi.
Eyewitness reports trickling out of the isolated country where the
Internet has been largely shut down and journalists cannot work freely
suggested that protesters were fighting back more forcefully against the
Middle East's longest-serving leader.
Libya's rebellion by those frustrated with Gadhafi's more than 40 years
of authoritarian rule has spread to more than a half-dozen eastern
cities.
In Tripoli, a Gadhafi stronghold, there have been few reports of
protests said to have been quickly put down. Secret police were heavily
deployed on the streets of the city of 2 million.
On Sunday, however, armed security forces were seen on rooftops
surrounding central Green Square, a witness said by telephone, speaking
on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. The witness added that a
group of about 200 lawyers and judges were protesting inside a Tripoli
courthouse, which was also surrounded by security forces.
An exiled opposition leader in Cairo said hundreds of protesters were
near the Bab al-Aziziya military camp where Gadhafi lives on the
outskirts of Tripoli. Faiz Jibril said his contacts inside Libya were
also reporting that hundreds of protesters had gathered in another
downtown plaza, Martyrs Square.
Libyan state TV showed Gadhafi in Tripoli being cheered by supporters,
including tribesmen and women chanting "God, Moammar and Libya — that is
all."
In another key blow to Gadhafi, the Warfla tribe — the largest in Libya,
has announced it is joining the protests, said Switzerland-based Libyan
exile Fathi al-Warfali. Although it had longstanding animosity toward
the Libyan leader, it had been neutral for most of the past two decades.
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said the Obama
administration was "very concerned" about reports that Libyan security
forces had fired on peaceful protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi.
"We've condemned that violence," Rice told "Meet the Press" on NBC. "Our
view is that in Libya as throughout the region peaceful protests need
to be respected."
The Arab League said it was following with great concern the
demonstrations in Arab countries and called for "the immediate halt of
all acts of violence and to refrain from using force against the
peaceful demonstrations."
In Cairo, Libya's Arab League representative Abdel-Monem al-Houni said
he told the Foreign Ministry in Tripoli that he had "resigned from all
his duties and joined the popular revolution."
"As a Libyan citizen, I absolutely cannot be quiet about these crimes,"
he said, adding that he had renounced all links to the regime because of
"my complete devotion to my people."
Al-Houni was part of the group that carried out the coup in 1969 that
brought Gadhafi to power. He later fell out with the Libyan leader, but
they reconciled in 2000. Gadhafi then named him to the Arab League post.e told Gadhafi's son, Seif al-Islam, that the country must embark on "dialogue and implement reforms," the Foreign Office said.