Tweet
The Guardian also reports:
Gunmen in cars reportedly opened fire on protesters as they streamed out of mosques after Friday prayers. Witnesses described shooting in streets near Green Square in the heart of the city.
The video here shows one such protest and the gunfire – with the BBC noting that:
The video has not been verified as authentic, but an analyst at BBC Monitoring, which examines international media, has identified the location as outside Jamal Abdel Nasser mosque, in central Tripoli.
Libya Feb 17 provides a translation:
The blood of the martyrs, will not go in vain!
There is no god except God! Mohammed is the messenger of God!
With our blood, with our souls, we sacrifice ourselves for you Benghazi**Running**
There is no god except God!
Come here, come here, this way, Abdullah! Abdullah, don’t stop!
Where’s your uncle?
I don’t know he was running behind me just now…
Abdullah, come come, come here.
The BBC also reports:
2159: More details have emerged about the violence in Tripoli today. A witness in the city’s eastern Tajoura district told AP news agency: “In the first wave of fire, seven people within 10 meters (yards) of me were killed. Many people were shot in the head… It was really like we are dogs.”
Later in the day, Gaddafi appeared with a group of supporters in the Green Square for:
another angry and defiant speech to crowds of supporters waving banners and cheering him — a message that he is alive and in control — as he pledged to “open up the arsenals”.
With the White House finally announcing sanctions and:
… acting to cut off limited military assistance to Libya and had placed financial institutions on notice to watch for the sudden movement of funds from the country.
[cont'd.] We also hear vague hints that suggest some form of possible military action but comments on many Feb17 support sites show that the Arab world understandably has no stomach for another US invasion or “intervention” in an oil-rich muslim country. Medical and humanitarian aid are despearately needed – with warnings that Libya’s food supply is failing as well as urgent calls from hospitals and doctors for supplies.
A Doctors Without Borders team was turned back by officials in Tripoli, another waits on the Tunisian border with urgently needed medical supplies and one six person team has reached Benghazi.You can support Doctors without Borders efforts by donating here.
The second video is of women in Darna protesting against Gaddafi yesterday.
20 Comments
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Uh-oh. Looks like it’s time for another sternly worded letter from Oilbama.
Siun,
Ban ki Moon was sounding particularly feisty on Libya around 4p ET today. Did you hear him & if so, do you have any comments.
Just, wow.
BBC has an international video expert? Sweet.
Gaddafi’s going to either
a)Go down with a fight led by defected military members
b)Go down without a fight as protests mount
or
c)Go down to foreign military forces after massacring his people.
It’s understandably difficult for the US to take a principled stand against the very practices that it itself employs against “terrorists” in foreign countries, some of them occupied by the US military and under its control and some not.
Ban ki-Moon is a US lap dog and he says whatever the US tells him to say. You won’t see Ban get exercised over the US wiping out Afghan wedding parties, that’s for sure. Libya is different.
And yup, I recognize a bit of what they’re chanting; from the call to prayer, which is why I can tell:
“La ilaha illalla” – There is no god except God!
What is never going to be well understood by us Westerners in general, is that these protesters are performing an act of struggle/jihad by speaking truth to power, and saying “Look, you powerful people, you are shitty Muslims. You do not practice Islam, and shame on you.”
People everywhere know about hypocrisy, and just despise it when it’s in their government.
Why doesn’t the UN send in “peace keepers”? Isn’t this the type of situation that calls for them?
Why can’t cand this be an option?
d) Country X offers Gaddafi safe haven and he leaves the country.
If the move saves lives, what is the downside for any country to do this?
I’m not getting a feelng for any way to stop Gadhafi.
He has friends in Cuba and Venezuela. Couldn’t someone in one of those countries offer him sanctuary?
He may be a little too “hot” for most countries. I would imagine he will be a target for a long time.
I don’t buy that as an argument. If his exit spares lives, the people of Libya will simply be glad to see him gone.
Yep … something that is missed too easily is how Islam underlies so much of the struggle people are taking on.
Wasn’t making an argument, just speculating.
Understood, but what you said is the probable reason why countries will not consider offering Gaddafi asylum. I still claim that is a very lame excuse.
It appears there are no countries left in the world with any moral stature that can step forward in a crisis and offer a peaceful solution. The world is full of cowards.
Yes and then the UN can issue a strongly worded resolution. Perhaps they can send in the Dutch peacekeepers who were on duty at Srebrenica. Seriously. What the hell can the UN do. If you want to help why don’t you have the US navy destroy the Libyan air force so it does not strafe the protesters any longer.
Or we can have the international community send a strongly worded message and sit on our hands while another democracy movement is shredded by the military.
The US military only attacks terrorists.
Um, this may just be one of those situations where bloodshed will happen.
Khaddafi (sp?) will rely on his mercenaries and dwindling loyalists to rule by force unless and until foreign countries embargo arms and soldiers for hire.
It will take a while, lots more people will die, but Ghathafi (sp?) will be gone.
A statement from Dr. Gro Brundtland of the Elders (www.theelders.org):
“Dear friends,
What a momentous start to the year!
Who could have imagined that a wave of people power would topple leaders in Egypt and Tunisia in just a matter of weeks?
I have been so impressed to see young people across the Arab world seize the initiative and articulate their vision for a better future.
They have sounded a stark warning to their leaders: we have a right to demand change and we have the will to achieve it.
I think my friend Desmond Tutu expressed many people’s feelings when he tweeted: “Brothers & sisters of #Egypt, you have given the world the most precious gift: the belief that ultimately right will prevail.”
However we are also dismayed at the loss of life that has occurred, most recently in Libya, and remind governments, security services, political parties and citizens of the rights of people to campaign for change and reform in their own societies.
We stand with all those crying for freedom and seeking the chance to participate in the decisions that affect their lives.”
(end of statement)