General

Wave of anti-government protests reaches Libya

Son of Muammar Gaddafi promises “war” if demonstrations persist

Anti-government protests similar to the ones that brought down dictatorships in Egypt and Tunisia have spread to Libya. Demonstrations in Tripoli and in Benghazi have been met with a violent crackdown on protesters. Human rights groups estimate at least 200 have been killed by government forces. Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, a son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, ratcheted up the tension even further early Monday, threatening further violence if protests escalate. “You can say we want democracy and rights, we can talk about it, we should have talked about it before,” the younger Gadhafi said on state television. “It’s this or war. Instead of crying over 200 deaths, we wil cry over hundreds of thousands of deaths.” Gadhafi also pointedly refuted reports indicating the government had lost the support of the military. “We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet,” he said.

Al-Jazeera English

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