Snipers open fire on mourners in Libya, killing 15
CTV.ca News Staff
Snipers targeted the thousands of people who were attending a mass funeral in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city and the site of violent protests. The mourners had gathered to honour the 35 protesters who were shot by government forces on Friday.
Dozens of mourners were also injured, with many of the victims suffering from gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
"Many of the dead and the injured are relatives of doctors here," an official at the local hospital told The Associated Press. "They are crying and I keep telling them to please stand up and help us."
Saturday's killings pushed the overall death toll to 99 as Gadhafi's forces crack down hard on protesters calling for an end to his more than 40 years of autocratic rule.
"The blood of our martyrs is still leaking from coffins over the shoulders of the mourners," one protester told The Associated Press, as she stood beside about 20 coffins in Benghazi.
After Friday's violence, the government moved to stifle online communication, a key public relations component for organizers of the demonstrations. U.S.-based Arbor Networks said Internet use in Libya ground to a halt shortly after 2 a.m. local time Saturday, with protesters confirming they were unable to get online.
A few hours later, government special forces broke up a camp of protesters, which included lawyers and judges, outside of the Benghazi courthouse. One protester told the Associated Press that soldiers dispersed the crowd by firing tear gas on the group.
After the violence at the funeral, local residents organized neighbourhood patrols through Benghazi as police disappeared from the streets. Residents feared the lack of police presence meant that government forces were preparing to raid homes, particularly of protest organizers, overnight.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague called reports of guns and other weapons being used against demonstrators in Libya "clearly unacceptable and horrifying." He also criticized limits on media access.
Malcolm Smart of Amnesty International said Saturday that during anti-government demonstrations across much of the Arab world, protesters have remained resolute even when they have been shot at by pro-government forces.
"I think that's in a sense the inspiration that's going to the protesters, and also in the minds of those in power and who do not want to go the way of those who were in power in Tunis and in Cairo," Smart told CTV News Channel, referring to former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and former Tunisian leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who were both forced from power by popular uprisings.
Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said the federal government is monitoring events in Libya very closely and is "deeply concerned" about the attacks on peaceful protesters.
"We call on the Libyan government to respect the rights of freedom of expression and assembly and to engage in peaceful dialogue with its people to address legitimate concerns," Cannon said in a statement.
In Libya, as in Egypt and other nations, protesters want solutions to dire poverty and high unemployment, as well as greater respect for human rights, including the right to peaceful protest.
The demonstrations have largely occurred in the particularly impoverished cities in the nation's east, although protesters have taken to the streets in the capital of Tripoli.
However, the police and military presence have remained heavy in Tripoli, where one female protester described residents as being "under siege."
With files from The Associated Press
Feb. 19, 2011