BENGHAZI, LIBYA ?Three people were killed and dozens injured after protesters tried to overrun the base of a powerful militia early Saturday morning, according to Libyan state television.
Civilians protested against paramilitary groups in Libya including the group responsible for the death of a U.S. Ambassador. Elizabeth Palmer reports.
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The clashes followed a protest Friday when thousands of Libyans demanded the dissolution of militias that have run Libya?s streets since a revolution ended the 42-year rule of Moammar Gaddafi.
Many Libyans have blamed last week?s deaths of four Americans at a U.S. consulate on extremist groups that have operated with relative impunity in the security vacuum since Gaddafi?s fall last year.
After nightfall on Friday, hundreds of protesters stormed the base of Ansar al-Sharia, the extremist militia that many have accused of leading the consulate attack, forcing the retreat of Ansar al-Sharia fighters.
The protesters then turned their rage on other militias, storming the base of Rafallah al-Sahati, a powerful Benghazi militia with conservative Islamist leanings, which until recently controlled the city?s airport. The confrontation prompted a firefight, and Libyan television broadcast footage of injured men being rushed to hospital emergency rooms.
The group?s leader, Ismail Salabi, was lightly injured, according to his brother-in-law.
It was unclear whether Libya?s weak police force had resecured the militia bases on Saturday morning. Rumors circulated that Rafallah al-Sahati had retaken its base.
The government in Tripoli has struggled to deal with the militias, which are composed largely of the young men who fought in last year?s revolution. The government?s efforts to bring some of the militias under a more unified national force have failed to deliver state-run security to Libya?s streets.
On Friday, as protesters draped in the red, black and green of the Libyan flag carried signs reading ?Benghazi deserves better? and ?No legitimacy, except to the police or the army,? Ansar al-Sharia held its own protest in nearby Al-Kish Square. The militia?s members gathered to call for the implementation of Islamic law in a demonstration that the anti-militia crowd said marked a provocation.
The dueling protests underscored a broader struggle underway in the country, nearly a year after Libyans from across the political spectrum joined hands in an eight-month war to oust Gaddafi. It is a battle to define a new Libya ? to answer the crucial question of what the Libyan people, government and culture look like when the shackles of dictatorship are thrown off.
?I think the struggle that?s eating people up right now is the struggle for an identity,? said Alya Barghathy, an English professor at Benghazi University who joined the anti-militia protest Friday. ?After all these years of being neglected and living in darkness, they don?t know who they are.?
The collapse of Gaddafi?s regime left a system in a shambles. After decades of repression, the country has lurched forward in recent months to form political parties and elect a General National Congress. The next task will be the drafting of a new constitution.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=02d8f01f8b50507203e36b37c063dab0
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