now the "Official Swiffness! (TM) Brand Libyan Revolution Thread"
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Libya protests: 140 'massacred' as Gaddafi sends in snipers to crush dissent
Women and children leapt from bridges to their deaths as they tried to escape a ruthless crackdown by Libyan forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
? is real out thurr
really real
Snipers shot protesters, artillery and helicopter gunships were used against crowds of demonstrators, and thugs armed with hammers and swords attacked families in their homes as the Libyan regime sought to crush the uprising.
"Dozens were killed ... We are in the midst of a massacre here," a witness told Reuters. The man said he helped take victims to hospital in Benghazi.
Libyan Muslim leaders told security forces to stop killing civilians, responding to a spiralling death toll from unrest which threatens veteran leader Muammar Gaddafi's authority.
Mourners leaving a funeral for protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi came under fire (word, that's that Beanie Sigel/Godfather 2 ? "PREACHER GET GRAZED, PALLBEARER FALL IN THE GRAVE"), killing at least 15 people and wounding many more. A hospital official said one of those who died was apparently struck on the head by an anti-aircraft missile, and many had been shot in the head and chest.
The hospital was overwhelmed and people were streaming to the facility to donate blood. "Many of the dead and the injured are relatives of doctors here," he said. "They are crying and I keep telling them to please stand up and help us."
Saturday's new deaths are in addition to the 84 people believed to have been killed by Friday night, in the brutal government response, with fears that the eventual toll will prove much higher.
The five-day uprising in eastern Libya has been the greatest challenge to the 42-year rule of Col Gaddafi, the world's longest-serving ruler. With internet and phone lines to the outside world disrupted, it was unclear whether the revolt inspired by the revolutions in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt was spreading from the impoverished east of Libya to the capital Tripoli, or whether it was being successfully extinguished.
It was centred on Benghazi, 600 miles east of the capital, where a human rights activist lawyer was arrested on Tuesday. Chanting crowds, tens of thousands strong, filled the streets and police reportedly fled or joined the protesters, as unrest spread to surrounding towns. Fighting also broke out in the cities of Al-Bayda, Ajdabiya, Zawiya, and Darnah, with witnesses reporting piles of dead. Hospitals made frantic appeals for blood to treat wards full of wounded people.
Libyan special forces launched a dawn attack on Saturday against hundreds of protesters, including lawyers and judges, camped in front of the courthouse in Benghazi. "They fired tear gas on protesters in tents and cleared the areas after many fled carrying the dead and the injured," one protester said by phone from the city.
Video clips on the internet showed jubilant crowds at the start of the protest smashing down concrete statues of their ruler's Little Green Book, containing his sayings (LMFAO, I just learned about that now. Wack-ass Mao-bitin ? .), and fighting running street battles with security forces. There were smaller protests in Tripoli, a stronghold of the Gaddafi family whose population received a much better share of Libya's oil wealth.
Colonel Gaddafi himself was shown on state-run television driving in a motorcade through Tripoli, surrounded by cheering supporters pumping their fists in the air and chanting slogans of support.
The pro-government Al-Watania newspaper praised Colonel Gaddafi, who came to power in a bloodless coup in 1969, and insisted the people were uniting with the government against "traitors of the West". Foreign media were exaggerating the scale of the violence, it said.
Reports from Benghazi gave a very different picture of the crisis, describing how the city's residents battled brutal security forces sent from the capital. One man, who gave his name only as Mohammed, told the BBC: "The army are joining the people, the people are going out of their homes and fighting street by street and they are winning."
A Benghazi cleric, Abellah al-Warfali, said he had a list of 16 people who had been killed, most with bullet wounds to the head and chest. "I saw with my own eyes a tank crushing two people in a car," he said. "They didn't do any harm to anyone."
Demonstrators claimed the regime had unleashed French-speaking African mercenaries against them, recruited from nearby countries such as Chad to help prop up the regime. Shaky videos filmed secretly from inside buildings and posted on YouTube showed the soldiers on the streets of Benghazi. Several were reportedly caught by the crowd and lynched.
Facebook, which was used by protesters in Egypt and Tunisia to coordinate their successful uprisings, was blocked. So was the website of Al-Jazeera, the international television network which is based in the Middle East.
Foreign journalists were refused entry. Demonstrators using Twitter warned each other that regime spies were carefully monitoring the internet, and mobile phone users were sent threatening messages from the government, warning them to remain patriotic and not to join the protests. One such message red: "We congratulate those who understand that interfering with national unity threatens the future of generations."
Omar, a 24-year-old civil servant in Benghazi, who asked for his surname to be withheld, said: "Gaddafi is reacting to the protests with utter ruthlessness. Tanks are on the streets, and there are running battles between armed killers and protesters. Some of the soldiers have been so disgusted by what is going on that they have swapped sides."
A British-based Libyan, Ahmed, who asked for the rest of his name to be withheld, said demonstrators had been attacked by Colonel Gaddafi's African mercenaries. "It started peacefully because the people want their country back after 42 years," he told The Sunday Telegraph. He was able to telephone friends and contacts in Libya, although they were barred from making international calls out of the country.
"They don't have any weapons so it is difficult for the people in Benghazi to defend themselves," he said. "But the army were so horrified when these mercenaries started attacking protesters that they have joined the people to defend them. It is chaotic in the hospitals. Medical supplies and everything else has been blocked and they are making appeals in the streets for people to come forward and give blood."
A Libyan journalist said of the African mercenaries: "The soldiers are vicious killers. People are so terrified of them that they've been doing everything possible to get away.
"Women and children were seen jumping off Giuliana Bridge in Benghazi to escape. Many of them were killed by the impact of hitting the water, while others were drowned."
Fatih, 26, another Benghazi resident, said: "A lot of the thugs he's employing are not Arabic speakers. They're armed to the teeth and only use live ammunition. They don't ask questions – they just shoot. Buildings and cars have been set on fire here, and the situation is getting worse. The dead and injured are everywhere.
"The mercenaries shoot from helicopters and from the top of roofs. They don't care who they ? ."
Libya is one of the biggest oil and gas exporters in the world, with companies like BP moving in to exploit its reserves following the rebuilding of its relationship with the west.
However, the unemployment rate is 30 per cent, housing is in short supply, and there is no political opposition and a pervasive police state. Much of Tripoli's population live in gigantic, soulless tower blocks.
Poverty is much worse in the east. Benghazi's tribes have always been suspicious of Colonel Gaddafi and the regime starves the region of investment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8335934/Libya-protests-140-massacred-as-Gaddafi-sends-in-snipers-to-crush-dissent.html
so not only did he sic his gestapo goonies on them, he let some foreign mercs than don't even speak the language go all Bulletstorm on ? for a $30,000 paycheck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2SC2TGm41w? yo lil green book, getcha own gimmick nicca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw4RcmJnNhQComments
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How is that guy not dead from syphilis?
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Why people aint putting up more of a fuss that the Black man is the real Afrikans. Not no "A-Rabs."
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Video related:Libya: Protestor Shot in the Face Dying in the Street
Libyan protesters seeking to oust longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi took to the streets in five cities Thursday on what activists have dubbed a "day of rage" -
yeah, Gaddafi is not the type to quietly acquiesce to grievances
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I love the democratic, we're all about liberty and freedom, hypocrisy in America.
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Half the crazy dudes on SL are pulling out their snipers in support of Gaddafi. Man I remember those convo's with people on here straight up praising dude and attempting to debate me. lol what now?
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Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday that he had information suggesting that embattled Libyan leader Muammar al-Qaddafi was heading to Venezuela.
Speaking in Brussels, where he was attending a European Union meeting, Hague said he did not believe Qaddafi had yet arrived in the South American country but said he had reason to believe that he could be heading to Caracas.
However, Reuters reports that A senior source in President Hugo Chavez's government denied reports that Libyan President Qaddafi was heading to Venezuela.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/21/uk-foreign-secretary-says-info-suggests-ghadafi-en-route-venezuela/#ixzz1EcJuHyGx -
Salem Gnan, a London-based spokesman for the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, says eyewitnesses in Tripoli have told him the navy has opened fire on parts of the capital.
"We have just heard that the military ships are bombing an area in Tripoli and many people have been killed although we don't know how many at the moment because people have just called to tell us it is happening."
Gnan said the navy appeared to be bombing a residential area outside the city centre as part of a desperate crackdown by Gaddafi's troops.
"He is even turning the ships on his people now. His plan is to use absolutely everything he can to stop what is happening."
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Libyan Ambassador to India Ali al-Essawi resigned in protest against his government's violent crackdown on demonstrators who have called for the ouster of the country's leader, Muammar Gaddafi, the Indian Express daily website reported on Monday.
Ambassador al-Essawi also accused the government of using foreign mercenaries to break up mass protests.
There was no immediate comment from the Libyan Embassy in New Delhi.
Libyan security forces began withdrawing from the country's capital Tripoli on Monday, the satellite channel Al-Jazeera reported.
On Sunday evening, Libya's permanent representative in the Arab League, Ambassador Abdel Moneim al-Huny, announced his resignation to protest Libyan authorities' use of violence against demonstrators, Al-Masry Al-Youm news agency reported.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/02/qaddafi-is-coming-down-he-is-coming-down-he-is-coming-down-ctd.html
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110221/162698818.html
Here's video of soldiers that were shot and burned by pro-Gaddafi troops for being "traitors":
Karl Stagno-Novarra, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Malta, reports the pilots of the jet fighters that landed there are "senior colonels", who were ordered to bomb protesters. They refused and have defected to Malta, he said. -
In a highly significant development, the leadership of the large and powerful Wafala tribe announced that it was now siding with the opposition against Qaddafi. About a million Libyans belong to this extended kinship group. Since cultivating tribal loyalties was one of the ways Qaddafi had remained in power, this major tribal defection underlines his loss of authority. It was further underlined when Arab Warfala leaders managed to convince their Berber counterparts in the southern Tuareg tribe, who are 500,000 strong, to join in opposing Qaddafi.
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[Qaddafi's son's] speech was certainly crazy, but he may be right about one thing: There is a nasty internecine conflict on the way in Libya. From all that we've seen, the regime will do anything to stay in power, including shooting people in cold blood with heavy-caliber weapons. It doesn't look like there will be a nice, friendly "let's all hold hands and clean up Tahrir Square" moment. After four decades of unspeakable tyranny, Libyans will be out for vengeance.
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[A] reason that Libya's regime appears in some respects more fragile (at least in parts of the country) is that it is the worst in the Middle East — basically the region's North Korea. Except that it's not protected by China, and is situated in a region of the world that is historically globalized. Libyans may have been cut off from the rest of the world by the sanctions, but they share an Arab and Mediterranean culture with over 300 million people and know that there is better than Qaddafi out there.
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In a worst-case scenario, eastern Libya moves not toward peaceful regime change but low-level civil war.
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Libya has an especially close relationship with its former colonial master, Italy. It now provides about 20 percent of all Italy’s oil imports and has invested in sizeable amounts in that country’s energy infrastructure including the transnational energy giant ENI.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2011/02/libya-reax.html -
According to GulfNews editor Abdul Hamid Ahmad, Libyan protesters have now taken control of several Libyan cities, thanks to defections by by the military. Clearly, if you thought Mubarak had a loyalty problem, Gaddafi's is much worse. There are reports of defections not just at the military, but among various government workers, including diplomats at the embassy level. Meanwhile, international oil companies are jetting out of town.
0948 GMT: Reports coming in that Libya's government headquarters in Tripoli is on fire. The building is near Martyrs' Square, where protesters are gathered. Eyewitnesses also say that demonstrators have burned all police bureaux in capital Tripoli.
They burned all the police stations? Good ? . Word to Darcskies.
powerful quote:
Ghazi Ramadan, 40, woke up in Tripoli Sunday morning feeling anxious and looking for news about the protests.
He walked outside to see people, mostly young men, rushing to a nearby square. He decided to join them. “I sensed the opportunity for change,” he said. “I don’t mind being dead. We’ve been dead for 42 years.” -
Got dayum lmao
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Example how one revolution can trigger a domino effect its time these empowered people from these nations take action. Couple more leaders also on the hot seat and more violence will erupt.
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Members of Libya’s mission to the United Nations renounced Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Monday, calling him a genocidal war criminal responsible for mass shootings of demonstrators protesting against his four decades in power. They called upon him to resign.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/world/africa/22nations.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Your own ambassadors tho? Lauce. -
OVER/UNDER
50,000 people Ghadaffi kills before resigning -
ThaChozenWun wrote: »OVER/UNDER
50,000 people Ghadaffi kills before resigning
Magic 8 Ball say Civil War certain, OVER -
ThaChozenWun wrote: »OVER/UNDER
50,000 people Ghadaffi kills before resigning
damn 50,000....shiiiit that means we're definitely gonna see a ? , globally interested revolution huh?
I gotta wait a day or 2 for some more army defects....if the army totally defects I'm going Revolution Under 5000 -
grain of salt because its from National Review (booooooooo), but ? could get even realer:
Al Aribiya is reporting from multiple sources that Libyan aircraft could begin bombing the city of Benghazi within hours. Benghazi is the second largest city in Libya behind Tripoli, and is now believed to be more or less under the control of protesters, after an army unit joined forces with citizens to push Gaddafi’s forces out. -
Damn, if they start bombing their own citizens... it's a wrap.
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Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi has issued a fatwa that any Libyan soldier who can shoot dead embattled leader Muammar Gaddafi should do so 'to rid Libya of him.'
'Whoever in the Libyan army is able to shoot a bullet at Mr Gaddafi should do so,' Qaradawi, an Egyptian-born cleric who is usually based in Qatar, told Al-Jazeera television.
He also told Libyan soldiers 'not to obey orders to strike at your own people,' and urged Libyan ambassadors around the world to dissociate themselves from Gaddafi's regime.
Famous in the Middle East for his at times controversial fatwas, or religious edicts, the octogenarian Qaradawi has celebrity status in the Arab world thanks to his religious broadcasts on Al-Jazeera.
http://www.skynews.com.au/topstories/article.aspx?id=580641&vId=
this Qaradawi ? is big time but relatively moderate amongst Islamists believe it or not
i watched a video today where he said its wrong to ? your daughter because her ? isn't 100%
i was like well damn
and he thinks the jews are evil, but he doesn't deny the Holocaust (because it was ? 's punishment). Like i said, MODERATE! -
I'm glad to see all these nation rising up, and after Ghadaffi resigns or is killed I'm sure there will be 2-3 more countries to successfully riot, but at the same time there's gonna be some dictator 10 times worst taking over in one of them or America is gonna come put a chokehold on a broke country and drain it dead.
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I pray to ? there isn't a civil war. We are gonna get a bunch of gun runners and mercs in there and eu countries carving out the oil .
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there's apparently already a batch of mercenaries in there getting a little trigger happy; this is probably the most ominous thing about it because even if the Libyan military decides they're not going to attack protesters, mercenaries (especially if they don't speak the local language) can just keep fighting as long as their bill is getting paid.supersajinfo wrote: »I pray to ? there isn't a civil war. We are gonna get a bunch of gun runners and mercs in there and eu countries carving out the oil .
hopefully Gaddafi is going to abdicate instead of taking this all the way (beyond where it's been taken, anyway) ... but man, Libya is sounding pretty ? terrible right about now -
Gaddafi going out Tony Montana style....he rather be killed then give take the monumental L. Its about to get ugly in Libya there are people willing to die for this cause.
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More :fiat_money wrote: »Video related:Libyans tie Dead Africans to the Hood and Cheer their Death During the Riots
....the unrest continues -
LMAO!!! Ya'll have to be watching Gadaffi's H.A.M. remix right now! This dude is bat ? crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYUtjfk0pQ
