The Native Iowan

I hate strong men and bullies…

Gadaffi Flees Libyan Capital as Protests Grow
By Jon E. Dougherty at 21 Feb 10:15

Longtime Libyan leader Muammar Gadaffi has reportedly fled the capital of Tripoli as protests in the North African country grew over the weekend with scores of protesters breaching government television and setting the parliament building on fire.

Reports said a number of businesses and banks have been looted in the capital, as some 400 protesters have been killed and scores more wounded in battles with government security forces.Some security forces were participating in the looting, reports noted, as protesters broke into several police stations as well.

Some army units may have defected to the opposition, reports from the region have said, but Gadaffi’s son, Saif al-Islam, said Monday he was prepared to enforce security “to the last bullet.”
“We are not Tunisia and Egypt,” he said, admitting that while the army still mostly backed his father, some military bases and equipment had been breached and stolen.

“We will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet,” said Said Gadaffi. “will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing…We will not leave Libya to the Italians or the Turks.”

He said the army has made some mistakes because it wasn’t trained to deal with large-scale demonstrations. He also offered to put reforms in place within days, adding the regime would consider other reforms and perhaps the implementation of a constitution.

Elsewhere, reports of violence continued to surface. One said more than 300 protesters have been massacred, most by foreign mercencenaries, in Libya’s second-largest city, Benghazi, though Said Gadaffi says casualty figures number no more than about 85.

Libyan Muslim leaders have also ordered followers to rebel against the regime, Reuters reported, telling them it was their duty.

“They have demonstrated total arrogant impunity and continued, and even intensified, their bloody crimes against humanity. They have thereby demonstrated total infidelity to the guidance of God and His beloved Prophet (peace be upon him),” said the group, which identified itself as the Network of Free Ulema of Libya.

“This renders them undeserving of any obedience or support, and makes rebelling against them by all means possible a divinely ordained duty,” said the group, according to quotes published by Reuters.

By Monday evening in Libya, it was unclear where Muammar Gadaffi fled, reports said, though it increasingly appeared as though his regime was losing control over larger swaths of the country.