17 February,2011 07:29 AM IST | | Agencies
Inspired by Egyptians, hundreds of protesters call for the ouster of Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi
Libyan police clashed with protesters chanting anti-government slogans and demanding the release of a human rights activist yesterday.
Up to 200 protesters in the coastal city of Benghazi were supporting human rights activist and lawyer Fathi Terbil, who had been detained earlier, a source said. Several people were arrested after police confronted the protesters, the source added.
Protesters chant "blood of the martyrs will not go in vain" and "people will put an end to corruption" in Benghazi yesterday
However, a highly placed Libyan source close to the government sought to downplay the reports of unrest. "There is nothing serious here," the highly placed source said. "These are just young people fighting each other ... There is no police, no security in Benghazi."
The source characterized the clashes as "street fights"and said they were not political.
"Libya is not Egypt... This is not an organised revolution," he said.
Meanwhile, demonstrations in support of long-time Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi took place in several cities, including Benghazi, the country's state news agency reported.
The government mobilized thousands of people in several Libyan cities and is conveying the message that while grievances will be addressed, calls for the regime's overthrow will not be tolerated.
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However, protesters have called for a 'Day of Anger' in Libya and anti-regime protest that had 4,400 members on Monday more than doubled in number to 9,600 by yesterday morning after the Benghazi unrest.
The crowd of protesters grew and they began chanting anti-regime slogans such as "the people will end the corruption" and "the blood of the martyrs will not be in vain," before police moved in to disperse them.
Brute force
Police used force to disperse the crowd gathered outside a police post.
However, the protesters threw stonesu00a0 at the police who responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets.
Marchers later hurled Molotov cocktails in a downtown square, damaging cars, blocking the road and hurling rocks.
Like protest movements elsewhere in the Middle East, dissidents have been using the Internet in a bid to rally support in a country where the media is tightly controlled by the state.
Under the banner The February 17 Intifada (Uprising): A Day of Strikes in Libya, one Facebook group has called for a popular uprising
The protests in the north African country come amid a wave of unrest that is sweeping the region and has toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt.
'Proud of Ghonim'
Meanwhile, Eric Schmidt, the chief executive of Google, said that the company was "very proud" of Wael Ghonim, an executive who helped plan the protests that culminated in the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Iran protests
Supporters and opponents of the Iranian government clashed yesterday at a funeral for a student shot dead during an opposition rally with both sides claiming him as one of their own. State television showed thousands of government supporters at Tehran University for the funeral of Sanee Zhaleh, one of the two people shot dead on Monday during the first opposition rally for more than a year. Each side blames the other for the killings.
