Libyan forces fight Benghazi protesters, 100 dead

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – At least 20 protesters were  killed overnight in the Libyan city of Benghazi, a rights  watchdog said today, after witnesses said security forces  fired heavy weapons at civilians from a fortified compound.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the latest night  of violence took the death toll from four days of clashes  centred on Benghazi and surrounding towns beyond 100.
The unrest, the worst in Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s  four decades in power, started as a series of protests inspired  by popular revolts in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia, but was  met by a fierce response.
A picture pieced together from witness accounts suggested  that the city is in a cycle of violence, where people are killed  and then, after funeral processions to bury the dead the next  day, security forces shoot more protesters.
Conflicting accounts were given over poor phone lines but it  appeared the streets were under the control of protesters while  security forces had pulled back to a high-walled compound, known  as the Command Centre, from where they shot at people.
“A massacre took place here last night,” one Benghazi  resident, who did not want to be named, told Reuters by  telephone on Sunday.
He said security forces were using heavy weapons, adding:  “Many soldiers and policemen have joined the protesters.”
A Benghazi hospital doctor said victims had suffered severe  wounds from high-velocity rifles.
Another witness, a leading tribal figure who requested  anonymity, suggested the security forces remained confined to  their control centre.
“The state’s official presence is absent in the city and the  security forces are in their barracks and the city is in a state  of civil mutiny,” he told Reuters. “People are running their own  affairs.”
He said that, as on previous days, thousands of people were  gathered near the northern Benghazi courthouse. He said they  were chanting: “We want to bring down the regime … Allahu  Akbar!”
Human Rights Watch said at least 20 more people had been  killed in Benghazi on Saturday, taking the overall toll,  compiled from interviews with witnesses and hospital officials,  to a “conservative” 104.
The Libyan government has not released any casualty figures  or made any official comment on the violence.
Libyan analysts say it is unlikely for the moment that  Gaddafi will be overthrown because the unrest is largely  confined to the eastern Cyrenaica region where his support has  traditionally been weaker than in the capital Tripoli, 1,000 km  (600 miles) to the west, and the rest of the country.
The crackdown prompted about 50 Libyan Muslim religious  leaders to issue an appeal, sent to Reuters, for the security  forces, as Muslims, to stop the killing.
“We appeal to every Muslim, within the regime or assisting  it in any way, to recognise that the killing of innocent human  beings is forbidden by our Creator and by His beloved Prophet of  Compassion (peace be upon him) … Do NOT kill your brothers and  sisters. STOP the massacre NOW!” the appeal said.