LAST UPDATE: 23.21
Demonstrators stormed the seat of the Libyan parliament in Tobruk tonight, protesting the worsening living conditions and political deadlock in the country.
Several TV channels reported that protesters entered the building and ransacked it. Footage shows thick black smoke billowing around the building as protesters, mostly young, set tires on fire in the surrounding streets.
Other media reported that part of the building was on fire.
The parliament was empty when the protesters entered, as the day was a public holiday for Libya.
A protester bulldozed the gate of the building’s enclosure, making it easier for the others to enter the area. Cars of MPs parked there were set on fire.
A short time later, other construction machinery arrived and began to remove some parts of the building’s exterior walls.
Other protesters, some holding green flags of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, threw documents they found in the offices into the air.
For several days now there have been long-hour power outages in Libya and the problem is getting worse due to the blockade of many oil facilities, against the background of the disagreements between the two rival governments.
“We want light,” chanted the protesters.
“We must admit our failure and withdraw from the political arena,” commented one MP, Balheir Alshaab, according to the Libya al-Ahrar TV channel. “I call on my fellow MPs as well as members of the Council of State to resign as a group to respect the will of the Libyan people and preserve the stability of Libya,” said another MP, Ziad Djem.
Two rival governments have been vying for power since March: one based in Tripoli, led by Abdelhamid Dbeiba, and the other, under Fathi Bashaga, supported by the Tobruk parliament and Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the strongman of eastern Libya. The presidential and parliamentary elections originally scheduled for December 2021 have been postponed indefinitely.
The latest round of talks between the two sides, under the auspices of the UN, ended on Thursday in Geneva without any agreement on the constitutional framework that would allow elections to be held. The chairman of the House of Representatives of Tobruk, Aguila Saleh, and the chairman of the Supreme Council of State, based in Tripoli, Khaled al-Masri, participated in the negotiations.
SOURCE: AMPE
Source: Capital
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