Tripoli: More than 120 people have been killed and hundreds others injured in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces since Wednesday, sources said.
Security forces in Benghazi, the second city of Libya, fired in the air to disperse the protesters killed dozens of protesters in the worst unrest of Muammar Gaddafi’s four decades in power.
Human rights organisations said that over 100 people have been shot by security forces in Libya in the recent clashes.
They said 35 people were killed on late Friday in the worst night of violence since protests started this week to try to emulate uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.
New York-based watchdog said that the number of dead was now over 100 after three days of violence centred on the restive region around Benghazi, 1,000 km (600 miles) east of the capital Tripoli.
Protests inspired by neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt demanded Gaddafi to resign from the rule. Security forces in the country tired to stop protest with a fierce crackdown.
Strict government control and media restrictions have limited the amount of information emerging about the unrest.
Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera said its signal was being jammed on several frequencies and its website had been blocked in Libya.
Opposition activists said protesters fought troops for control of the nearby town of Al Bayda, scene of some of the worst violence over the past two days, where townspeople said they were burying 14 people who were killed in earlier clashes.
There were no reliable reports of major protests elsewhere, and state media said there had been pro-Gaddafi rallies in the capital.
International experts who are watching situation in Libya said that an Egypt-style nationwide revolt is unlikely because Gaddafi has oil cash to smooth over social problems. They said Gaddafi still respected in much of the country.
Noman Benotman, a former dissident Islamist, told Reuters the government was talking to tribal leaders in Benghazi to try to defuse tensions. But he said if the authorities decided to restore order by force it would be done ‘toughly.’
The Department of Foreign Affairs is working with other European Union representatives in Libya to try to arrange the evacuation of up to 40 Irish nationals in Banghazi, Eastern Libya.
A spokesman for the department said that the six Irish nationals who are working in Benghazi are currently safe and the department has advised them to stay where they are.
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