Dozens more killed in eastern Libya – rights group

TRIPOLI, (Reuters) – Libyan security forces killed 35  people in the eastern city of Benghazi late yesterday, Human  Rights Watch said, adding to dozens who have already died 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 yesterday 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.
Yesterday’s deaths in Benghazi happened when security forces  opened fire on people protesting after funeral processions for  victims of 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.
Away from the eastern region, the country appeared calm. A  government-run newspaper blamed the protests on Zionism and the  “traitors of the West”, while officials said foreign media were  exaggerating the scale of the violence in the east.
A Benghazi resident, who lives near the city centre, 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,” the resident,  who did not want to be identified, told Reuters. “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 told Reuters from the city: “There  are still a large number of protesters standing in front of  Benghazi court. They have decided they are not going to move.”
A security source said that there were still clashes going  on in the region between Benghazi and the town of Al Bayda,  about 200 km away, where local people said dozens have also been  killed by security forces in the past 72 hours.
“The situation in the eastern area from Al Bayda to Benghazi  is 80 percent under control … A lot of police stations have  been set on fire or damaged,” the security source told Reuters.  He also said: “Please do not believe what foreign radio and  television are saying. Their information is not exact.”