– Tramite Facebook l’opposizione ha lanciato un appello ad un altro giorno dell’ira per giovedì 17, in ricordo degli eventi del 17 febbraio 1987 e 2006,
o Il 17 febbraio 1987 vennero uccisi nove giovani accusati di tradimento, e nel 2006 10 altre persone nella violenta repressione poliziesca della protesta di Bengasi, dove una manifestazione contro le caricature di Maometto diede il via alla protesta contro i dirigenti libici.
– Sette finora le vittime negli scontri tra la polizia di Gheddafi e i suoi oppositori, 4 di esse a Al-Baidha, 1200 km ad est di Tripoli, dove la polizia ha cacciato i manifestanti; 2 nella città portuale di Bengasi; le proteste finora sono concentrate nelle città del N-E della Libia si stanno allargando, ed hanno interessato fino ad oggi Rijban, Shahat e Bengazi, e Al-Zintan.
A Bengasi e Tripoli organizzati due grossi cortei filo-Gheddafi.
„Tag des Zorns“- Berichte über Tote bei Protesten in Libyen
Bei Zusammenstößen zwischen Gaddafi-Gegnern und der Polizei sollen bislang sieben Menschen getötet worden sein. Die Proteste konzentrierten sich bislang auf die Städte im Nordosten Libyens. Oppositionelle haben zu einem „Tag des Zorns“ aufgerufen.
– In Libyen weiten sich die Proteste gegen Staatschef Muammar al-Gaddafi auf weitere Teile des Landes aus. Aus Oppositionskreisen hieß es am Donnerstag, seit Dienstagabend seien bei Zusammenstößen zwischen Gaddafi-Gegnern und der Polizei bisher sieben Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Vier von ihnen seien in der Stadt Al-Baidha 1200 Kilometer östlich der Hauptstadt Tripolis getötet worden, zwei in der Hafenstadt Benghasi.
– Bei einer Protestaktion in der Stadt Al-Kubba hätten Demonstranten eine Polizeiwache in Brand gesetzt. Die Proteste konzentrierten sich bislang auf die Städte im Nordosten des Landes. Auch aus der Ortschaft Al-Zintan südwestlich von Tripolis waren am Mittwoch Anti-Gaddafi-Proteste gemeldet worden. Dem Vernehmen nach ließ sich die Polizei dort nicht blicken, während sie in Al-Baidha in der Nacht alle Demonstranten vertrieb. In Benghasi und Tripolis formierten sich am Donnerstag nach Angaben aus regierungsnahen Kreisen auch zwei Demonstrationszüge von Gaddafi-Anhängern.
Sicherheitsvertreter gefeuert
– Die Zeitung „Kuryna“ berichtete unter Berufung auf „gut unterrichtete Sicherheitskreise“, das Innenministerium habe nach dem Tod zweier Demonstranten in El Baida einen ranghohen Sicherheitsvertreter der Region gefeuert. Den Angaben zufolge wurden die beiden jungen Männer am Rande einer Demonstration getötet, in deren Verlauf auch mehrere Autos angezündet wurden. Die Polizei habe daraufhin trotz des Protests der Besitzer die Geschäfte der Stadt geschlossen.
Die staatlichen Medien hatten zunächst nur über Proteste in Bengasi in der Nacht zum Mittwoch berichtet. Von Toten war in diesen Berichten nicht die Rede gewesen. Dafür schenken die Staatsmedien den Pro-Gaddafi-Kundgebungen, die seit Mittwoch in mehreren libyschen Städten stattfinden, große Beachtung.
– Oppositionelle haben für diesen Donnerstag zu einem „Tag des „Zorns“ aufgerufen. In allen Städten des Landes sollen sich Regimegegner zu Kundgebungen versammeln, hieß es in dem Aufruf, der über Facebook verbreitet wurde. Die Proteste sollen an die Ereignisse des 17. Februar 2006 erinnern. Damals war eine Demonstration gegen die Mohammed-Karikaturen in Benghasi in eine Protestaktion gegen die libysche Führung ausgeartet. Es gab Tote und Verletzte. (Siehe auch: Libyen: Unruhen im Volksmassenstaat)
Deaths Reported in Anti-Gadhafi Clashes
By TAHANI KARRAR-LEWSLEY And CHIP CUMMINS
Local media and human-rights groups monitoring Libya reported at least four protesters killed in recent clashes with security forces and regime supporters, as Col. Moammar Gadhafi mobilized large pro-government demonstrations across the North African country on Thursday.
Anti-Gadhafi groups reported on social-media sites late Thursday that Libyan protesters took to the streets in four cities Thursday afternoon: Zentan, Rijban, Shahat and Benghazi.
It was impossible to verify the accounts, but videos circulated on Facebook showed demonstrators burning a security detention center Wednesday night and hundreds of protesters marching Thursday afternoon on a main road in Benghazi chanting anti-Gadhafi slogans.
The violence in Libya, one of the Arab world’s most repressive regimes, has ratcheted up pressure on a dictator whose hold on power had seemed more secure than other leaders in the region just a few days ago. Expatriate human-rights groups and opposition activists had called for demonstrations on Thursday against Col. Gadhafi, amid Arab revolts in neighbor Tunisia and Egypt, and unrest across much of the Arab world.
The violence in Libya is still relatively limited, and a clear picture of the extent of the clashes may not emerge for days, with local media closely circumscribed and foreign reporters all but barred from entering the country. But some analysts had expected Col. Gadhafi to better weather the regional unrest.
Libya has a number of advantages that leaders elsewhere in North Africa don’t: A very small population—about 6.5 million—and brimming coffers, thanks to recently high oil prices.
Col. Gadhafi has ruled Libya since taking power in a bloodless coup in 1969, keeping the peace through a heavy-handed security force that tolerates very little dissent. He has also allowed the country’s tribal leaders a measure of self-governance, and has been generous doling out oil revenues to win allegiances.
Significant unrest could further shake oil markets, already jittery about deadly protests in Bahrain, in the oil-rich Persian Gulf; unrest in Algeria, another big oil producer; and the revolution in Egypt, through which a large share of global supply passes on its way to world markets.
Libya, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps just under 2 million barrels of oil a day, making it one of the world’s largest producers.
"If the situation continues to grow worse and gains more momentum, and the regime loses ground, prices will be impacted," said Riad Kahwaji, at the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis, a Dubai-based think tank.
Tawfiq Alghazwani, a Dublin-based member of the National Congress of Libyan Opposition, said that during protests this week one protester was killed in central Benghazi and two more in an eastern part of the city. Another death was reported in a village near the capital, Tripoli, he said.
The online edition of the Benghazi-based Quryna newspaper, which is pro-Gadhafi, confirmed two of those deaths, reporting two youths were shot by security forces on Wednesday in the eastern regions of the city. It also said the regional security chief had been fired for his handling of the unrest there, citing security sources.
Benghazi, Libya’s second city, with a population of about a million, has long been a hotbed of anti-Gadhafi activism. It has been the site of several crackdowns on dissident, including the execution of a group of young Libyans accused of treason in 1987 and the violent suppression of a riot outside the Italian consulate in 2006.
Human Rights Watch, the U.S.-based group, said it had confirmed the death in central Benghazi and accused Libyan security forces of rounding up activists ahead of demonstrations planned for Thursday, the anniversary of the 1987 and 2006 crackdowns.
A small protest in Benghazi Tuesday night, calling for the release of a human-rights lawyer, flared into an anti-Gadhafi demonstration that was violently ended by police and government supporters, according to local media reports and a human-rights group monitoring the event.
Libyan government spokesman Abdulmajeed Eldursi said Thursday he had seen reports of the four deaths, but couldn’t confirm them. He denied security forces used violence.
A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Bahrain and Iran have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprisings have progressed.
"There is no use of violence (by the authorities) or anything that is not justified," he said. "When there is a crowd, the security will try to disperse them but there is no excessive use of violence at all."
Mr. Eldursi said Benghazi was quiet Thursday, and that pro-government rallies were taking place across the country. State media reported Wednesday that government supporters were planning to rally in cities across Libya.
Thousands of pro-Gadhafi loyalists spent the night camping in tents in the main sports stadium in Benghazi, said Mr. Alghazwani, of the opposition group.