Muamar al-Qaddafi Unleashes the Most Violent Crackdown in All Arab World

Protest in Libya (therealtimer.com)

The situation escalates in Libya as the air force were brought in to crack down on the demonstrators, shooting and bombing at random the streets of Tripoli, the capital city, causing a death toll of at least 300 people killed and hundreds of people injured.

On Tuesday, dead bodies could be seen in the streets of the capital of the north African country, while Muammar al-Qaddafi, the president of Libya, spoke on national television, in an attempt to show he had not left the country and was still in control of things.

Qadaffi threatened with war on those who wanted to remove him from office in a defiant show off, which could be listed as normal for him if we disregard that he practically unleashed the most ferocious crackdown on people of all the Arab states that went through this kind of turmoil, some of them facing political change.

Muammar al-Qaddafi (therealtimer.com)

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights reports some 250 people killed in the crackdown against the population of Libya, without counting those killed since the son of Qaddafi began shooting people from planes and helicopters  Sunday night.

International human rights watchdogs warn that some of these atrocities could easily be construed as crimes against humanity.

Considering that Libya is one of the OPEC members and an important supplier of oil for Europe, the price of barrel went to $93 on Tuesday and reserves are taken into account.

The international leaders expressed outrage, asking Qaddafi to put an end to the bloodshed.

Italian Foreign Minister expressed concern that a war could break out in Libya and a huge exodus of people could hit the Italian Peninsula.

The violent crackdown began on Monday night, when the militia loyal to Qaddafi, made of both Libyan and foreign mercenaries, began shooting every living human being from the roofs of the building.

Crackdown in Tripoli (therealtimer.com)

As they continued doing so throughout the night, targeting even ambulances, the dead were left in the street, and the wounded had to be left behind, some of them finding their own death this way.

In Benghazi, conversely, the protesters overcame the police forces and took over the city, with the help of military that sided with them, weakening the control of the regime and strengthening the chances of civil war.

Though people are still afraid, some of them found it within themselves to loot military bases outside the city of Ajdabiya, where a warplane was dispatched to bomb the area.

Qaddafi, who wanted to show the people they didn’t have to believe the “dog stations” that reported about his departure, has already lost support of at least one tribal leader and of some military leaders and diplomats, including the ambassador to Washington.

The situation becomes critical for foreigners living in the region, many of them working in the oil industry, prompting them to attempt to flee the country.

Italy has pulled out about 100 Italian citizens from the city of Benghazi, and similar measures were taken by the Egyptian authorities and the Jordanian ones.

Jordanian people who returned from Libya recount about a “bloodbath” in Tripoli and many billboards with Qaddafi were destroyed or burnt all over the country.11