Libyan forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi are waging a bloody operation to keep him in power, with residents reporting gunfire in parts of the capital Tripoli and other cities, while other citizens, including the country's former ambassador to India, are saying that warplanes were used to "bomb" protesters.
Nearly 300 (1,000!) people are reported to have been killed in continuing violence in the capital and across the North African country as demonstrations enter their second week.
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has warned that the widespread attacks against civilians "amount to crimes against humanity", and called for an international investigation in possible human rights violations.
Witnesses in Tripoli told Al Jazeera that fighter jets had bombed portions of the city in fresh attacks on Monday night. The bombing focused on ammunition depots and control centres around the capital.
Helicopter gunships were also used, they said, to fire on the streets in order to scare demonstrators away.
Several witnesses said that "mercenaries" were firing on civilians in the city, while pro-Gaddafi forces warned people not to leave their homes via loudspeakers mounted on cars.
Residents of the Tajura neighbourhood, east of Tripoli, said that dead bodies are still lying on the streets from earlier violence. At least 61 people were killed in the capital on Monday, witnesses told Al Jazeeera.
'Indiscriminate bombing'
Protests in the oil-rich African country, which Gaddafi has ruled for 41 years, began on February 14, but picked up momentum after a brutal government crackdown following a "Day of Rage" on February 17. Demonstrators say they have now taken control of several important towns, including the city of Benghazi, which saw days of bloody clashes between protesters and government forces.
There has been a heavy government crackdown on protests, however, and demonstrators at a huge anti-government march in the capital on Monday afternoon said they came under attack from fighter jets and security forces using live ammunition.
"8:20 am There have been multiple reports out of Libya that security forces there are using "high caliber" or "anti-aircraft" weapons against civilian protesters. We've seen video of Libyans holding spent rounds, both large and small, comparing the two for cameras. To get a sense of what high caliber really means, look at this photo:
The round second from right is standard 5.56mm - of the type used by NATO forces, as the photo illustrates. The round on the far left is .50 caliber and has reportedly been used against protesters. Sources in Tripoli who have spoken with doctors in the capital also said some believe explosive rounds are being used.
One blogger noted: "I had a discussion with my brother, who’s currently training in the police academy, about weapons that law enforcement/the military uses. Do you want to know what police departments who even have these bullets use them for? Immobilizing vehicles and shooting through walls ... These bullets are designed to shred things much tougher than the human body."
"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said in a live broadcast.
"Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car, they will hit you."
Ali al-Essawi, who resigned as Libyan ambassador to India, also told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that fighter jets had been used by the government to bomb civilians.
He said live fire was being used against protesters, and that foreigners had been hired to fight on behalf of the government. The former ambassador called the violence "a massacre", and called on the UN to block Libyan airspace in order to "protect the people".
'Genocide'
The country's state broadcaster quoted Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, and widely seen as his political heir, as saying that armed forces had "bombarded arms depots situated far from populated areas". He denied that air strikes had taken place in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The government says that it is battling "dens of terrorists".
Earlier, Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Gaddafi had started a "genocide against the Libyan people".
During Monday's protests, gunfire was heard across the capital, with protesters seen attacking police stations and government buildings, including the offices of the state broadcaster.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that there had been a "massacre" in Tajura district, with gunmen seen firing "indiscriminately".
In Fashlum district, helicopters were seen landing with what witnesses described as "mercenaries" disembarking and attacking those on the street.
Mohammed Abdul-Malek, a London-based opposition activist who has been in touch with residents, said that snipers have taken positions on roofs in an apparent bid to stop people joining the protests.
Several witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press news agency said that pro-Gaddafi gunmen were firing from moving cars at both people and buildings.
State television on Tuesday dismissed allegations that security forces were killing protesters as "lies and rumours".
Benghazi situation dire
Benghazi, Libya's second city, which had been the focal point of violence in recent days, has now been taken over by anti-government protesters, after military units deserted their posts and joined the demonstrators.
Doctors there, however, say that they are running short of medical supplies.
Dr Ahmed, at the city's main hospital, told Al Jazeera that they were running short of medical supplies, medication and blood.
He said that the violence in Benghazi had left "bodies that are divided in three, four parts. Only legs, and only hands,".
While no casualties had been reported in the city on Tuesday, he estimated the number of people killed in Benghazi alone over the last five days to be near 300.
He also said that when military forces who had defected from Gaddafi's government entered an army base, they found evidence of soldiers having been executed, reportedly for refusing to fire on civilians.
The runway at the city's airport has been destroyed, according to the Egyptian foreign minister, and planes can therefore not land there.
Possible 'crimes against humanity'
According to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR), protesters are also in control of Sirte, Tobruk in the east, as well as Misrata, Khoms, Tarhounah, Zenten, Al-Zawiya and Zouara.
On Sunday, the US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said that at least 233 people were killed in the violence. Added to that are at least 61 people who died on Monday, which brings the toll since violence began on February 17 to at least 294.
Pillay, the UN's human rights chief, called on Tuesday for an international investigation into the violence in the country, saying that it was possible that "crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by the Libyan government.
In a statement, Pillay called for an immediate halt to human rights violations, and denounced the use of machine guns, snipers and military warplanes against civilians.
Evacuations
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell, a major oil company, said on Tuesday that all of its expatriate employees and their dependents living in Libya have now been relocated.
Emirates airlines and British Airways suspended all flights to Tripoli on Tuesday, citing the violence in the country, even as Italy, France, Turkey, Greece and several other countries were preparing to send aircraft to evacuate their nationals from the country.
Two Turkish ships that were sent to evacuate citizens were not allowed to dock at Tripoli, and one of them then sailed to Benghazi in an attempt to dock there, Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Istanbul, reported.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's became the second agency in as many days to downgrade Libya on Tuesday, as it cut the country's rating from A- to BBB+.
Twitter user @_Noura posted this to twitpic:
** 'Gaddafi does not have a post to resign from, Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution,' he said as he pounded his fist on a podium set up in the entrance of a bombed-out building - possibly his Tripoli residence, hit by US airstrikes in the 1980s and left unrepaired.
'This is my country, I will not leave the land of Libya.'
During the defiant speech, 68-year-old Gaddafi described protesters who have carried out days of anti-government demonstrations as 'rats and mercenaries' who want to turn Libya into an Islamic state, blaming the unrest on 'cowards and traitors'.
Note: Now he shows his true colour! He's against Islam... seems quite familiar with those remark in Malaysia!
Nearly 300 (1,000!) people are reported to have been killed in continuing violence in the capital and across the North African country as demonstrations enter their second week.
'Bloody operation'
Navi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has warned that the widespread attacks against civilians "amount to crimes against humanity", and called for an international investigation in possible human rights violations.
Witnesses in Tripoli told Al Jazeera that fighter jets had bombed portions of the city in fresh attacks on Monday night. The bombing focused on ammunition depots and control centres around the capital.
Helicopter gunships were also used, they said, to fire on the streets in order to scare demonstrators away.
Several witnesses said that "mercenaries" were firing on civilians in the city, while pro-Gaddafi forces warned people not to leave their homes via loudspeakers mounted on cars.
Residents of the Tajura neighbourhood, east of Tripoli, said that dead bodies are still lying on the streets from earlier violence. At least 61 people were killed in the capital on Monday, witnesses told Al Jazeeera.
'Indiscriminate bombing'
He fought his own peoples
There has been a heavy government crackdown on protests, however, and demonstrators at a huge anti-government march in the capital on Monday afternoon said they came under attack from fighter jets and security forces using live ammunition.
"8:20 am There have been multiple reports out of Libya that security forces there are using "high caliber" or "anti-aircraft" weapons against civilian protesters. We've seen video of Libyans holding spent rounds, both large and small, comparing the two for cameras. To get a sense of what high caliber really means, look at this photo:
Who's the 'culprit'?
One blogger noted: "I had a discussion with my brother, who’s currently training in the police academy, about weapons that law enforcement/the military uses. Do you want to know what police departments who even have these bullets use them for? Immobilizing vehicles and shooting through walls ... These bullets are designed to shred things much tougher than the human body."
Useless man in the world!
"What we are witnessing today is unimaginable. Warplanes and helicopters are indiscriminately bombing one area after another. There are many, many dead," Adel Mohamed Saleh said in a live broadcast.
"Anyone who moves, even if they are in their car, they will hit you."
Ali al-Essawi, who resigned as Libyan ambassador to India, also told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that fighter jets had been used by the government to bomb civilians.
He said live fire was being used against protesters, and that foreigners had been hired to fight on behalf of the government. The former ambassador called the violence "a massacre", and called on the UN to block Libyan airspace in order to "protect the people".
'Genocide'
The country's state broadcaster quoted Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the Libyan leader, and widely seen as his political heir, as saying that armed forces had "bombarded arms depots situated far from populated areas". He denied that air strikes had taken place in Tripoli and Benghazi.
The government says that it is battling "dens of terrorists".
Earlier, Ibrahim Dabbashi, Libya's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, said Gaddafi had started a "genocide against the Libyan people".
During Monday's protests, gunfire was heard across the capital, with protesters seen attacking police stations and government buildings, including the offices of the state broadcaster.
Witnesses told the AFP news agency that there had been a "massacre" in Tajura district, with gunmen seen firing "indiscriminately".
He's sucks!
In Fashlum district, helicopters were seen landing with what witnesses described as "mercenaries" disembarking and attacking those on the street.
Mohammed Abdul-Malek, a London-based opposition activist who has been in touch with residents, said that snipers have taken positions on roofs in an apparent bid to stop people joining the protests.
Several witnesses who spoke to the Associated Press news agency said that pro-Gaddafi gunmen were firing from moving cars at both people and buildings.
Mercenaries... came as far as Niger just to kill his own people!
They're paid up to 18,000 pounds sterling!
State television on Tuesday dismissed allegations that security forces were killing protesters as "lies and rumours".
Benghazi situation dire
Benghazi, Libya's second city, which had been the focal point of violence in recent days, has now been taken over by anti-government protesters, after military units deserted their posts and joined the demonstrators.
Doctors there, however, say that they are running short of medical supplies.
Dr Ahmed, at the city's main hospital, told Al Jazeera that they were running short of medical supplies, medication and blood.
He said that the violence in Benghazi had left "bodies that are divided in three, four parts. Only legs, and only hands,".
While no casualties had been reported in the city on Tuesday, he estimated the number of people killed in Benghazi alone over the last five days to be near 300.
He also said that when military forces who had defected from Gaddafi's government entered an army base, they found evidence of soldiers having been executed, reportedly for refusing to fire on civilians.
The runway at the city's airport has been destroyed, according to the Egyptian foreign minister, and planes can therefore not land there.
Possible 'crimes against humanity'
Yes, kick the murderer again... and again... and again!
According to the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR), protesters are also in control of Sirte, Tobruk in the east, as well as Misrata, Khoms, Tarhounah, Zenten, Al-Zawiya and Zouara.
On Sunday, the US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said that at least 233 people were killed in the violence. Added to that are at least 61 people who died on Monday, which brings the toll since violence began on February 17 to at least 294.
Pillay, the UN's human rights chief, called on Tuesday for an international investigation into the violence in the country, saying that it was possible that "crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by the Libyan government.
In a statement, Pillay called for an immediate halt to human rights violations, and denounced the use of machine guns, snipers and military warplanes against civilians.
Evacuations
Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell, a major oil company, said on Tuesday that all of its expatriate employees and their dependents living in Libya have now been relocated.
Emirates airlines and British Airways suspended all flights to Tripoli on Tuesday, citing the violence in the country, even as Italy, France, Turkey, Greece and several other countries were preparing to send aircraft to evacuate their nationals from the country.
Two Turkish ships that were sent to evacuate citizens were not allowed to dock at Tripoli, and one of them then sailed to Benghazi in an attempt to dock there, Anita McNaught, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Istanbul, reported.
Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's became the second agency in as many days to downgrade Libya on Tuesday, as it cut the country's rating from A- to BBB+.
Twitter user @_Noura posted this to twitpic:
Gaddafiqueen... cilakak!
** 'Gaddafi does not have a post to resign from, Gaddafi is the leader of the revolution,' he said as he pounded his fist on a podium set up in the entrance of a bombed-out building - possibly his Tripoli residence, hit by US airstrikes in the 1980s and left unrepaired.
'This is my country, I will not leave the land of Libya.'
During the defiant speech, 68-year-old Gaddafi described protesters who have carried out days of anti-government demonstrations as 'rats and mercenaries' who want to turn Libya into an Islamic state, blaming the unrest on 'cowards and traitors'.
Note: Now he shows his true colour! He's against Islam... seems quite familiar with those remark in Malaysia!
Injustice comes in many forms. Seek justice.