Libya: anti-Gaddafi officials protests continue

Men in pick-up trucks equipped with anti-aircraft guns claim they will not leave until Gaddafi-era employees and the justice minister quit saying that the officials can’t hold government jobs under new laws.

Libya’s Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has condemned the protest.

Libyan gunmen submit their demands

Reports from Libya say a group of gunmen stormed into the Justice Ministry in Tripoli on Tuesday and ordered the staff, including the minister, to leave the building.

The gunmen, former Libyan revolutionaries, deployed anti-aircraft machineguns around the ministry and are letting no one in.

They are demanding that all former officials who served under Libya’s deposed ruler Colonel Gaddafi be barred from senior government posts. Gaddafi was killed in the autumn of 2011.

The Libyan parliament is currently drafting a bill that may ban former Gaddafi officials from public service. The bill has aroused bitter controversy. Earlier, gunmen surrounded and seized the Foreign Ministry building in Tripoli.

Citizens of Tripoli differ in their view of the events. Here is an interpretation of the events given to the Voice of Russia by one of the witnesses, Abdel-Latif Muhammad.

"Armed men have been attacking government facilities in the capital for two days now. For example, yesterday the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Foreign Ministry were attacked, and today they attacked the building of the Ministry of Justice, and there was even an attempt on the life of Minister of Justice Salah al-Margani. These criminals demand the resignation of all the Ministers. And this looks like a well-thought-out plan aimed at frustrating the plans of revival of the Libyan state. The population of Libya, of course, opposes this, as our leadership is legally elected by the people. And as for the fact that the armed bandits want to chase away the employees of the ministries, it is called an attempt on legitimate authorities. Such behaviour is caused by the fact that some time ago, Commander in Chief of the army of the country Youssef El-Mankush, who wanted to destroy the entire structure of the armed forces of Libya, was discharged. As a result, his supporters now organize riots, hoping to overthrow the Cabinet and return the levers of power to their leader." 

Armed men surround Libya justice ministry - official

Armed men demanding the expulsion of officials from the former regime of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi Tuesday surrounded the justice ministry in Tripoli, where the foreign ministry has similarly been encircled for the past three days, an official said.

"Several armed men in vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft guns surrounded the ministry of justice," Walid Ben Rabha, head of the ministry's information department, told AFP.

"They asked the minister and staff present to leave their offices and close the ministry."Dozens of gunmen making similar demands have kept Libya's foreign ministry under siege since Sunday, paralysing its functioning.

Voice of Russia, RIA, TASS, Vesti, AFP, Reuters