TRIPOLI : Libyan security forces killed 35 people in the eastern city of Benghazi late on Friday, Human Rights Watch said, adding to dozens already killed in the worst unrest of Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power.
Protests against Gaddafi's rule, inspired by uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt, broke out this week for the first time in years but were met with a fierce security crackdown, especially in the restive east of the country.
The New York-based watchdog said the killings on Friday took to 84 its estimate for the total death toll after three days of protests against a ruling elite which some in the east say has hoarded Libya's oil wealth and denied political freedom.
The deaths in Benghazi on Friday happened when security forces opened fire on people protesting after funeral processions for people killed in earlier violence, the group said. There has been no official word on the number of dead.
"We put out a call to all the doctors in Benghazi to come to the hospital and for everyone to give blood because I've never seen anything like this before," it quoted a senior hospital official in Benghazi as saying.
A Benghazi resident said shooting could be heard last night and that protesters attacked and damaged the state-run radio station near his home.
"I heard shooting last night until midnight," said the resident, who did not want to be identified. "The radio station has been attacked ... We do not know what we are going to do."
He said most people were staying inside their houses because they were too frightened to go out.
The security forces in the streets were wearing yellow hats, the witness said, which are not part of standard Libyan police or army uniform. "They are not Libyans," he said.
Another Benghazi resident said: "There are still a large number of protesters standing in front of Benghazi court. They have decided they are not going to move."
source : thenews.com.pk
