Benghazi rallies in rebel show of force

BENGHAZI: Tens of thousands of Libyans opposed to the regime of Moamer Qadhafi spilled onto the streets of Benghazi on Wednesday, hoping to send a message to Tripoli and bolster rebel morale.

Shops closed and bus-loads of protesters were brought into the centre as anti-Q

Qadhafi forces aimed to show the strongman as well as his opponents in Tripoli that they are unbowed by nearly five months of fighting.

Thousands of demonstrators lined the streets hours before the rally was due to start, waving flags, beeping car horns and shouting pro-revolution slogans.

Eventually as many as 100,000 people crammed into the vast El-Kish Square in front of the charred remains of a military barracks that was once Qadhafi's bastion in the city.

The protesters chanted slogans taunting everything from the dictator's haircut, "We're sorry, curly hair!" to his sons' masculinity.

But amid the revelry, the focus was clearly on demanding Qadhafi leave.

"We want to say Qadhafi go away," said Aisha, a teenager who attended the rally with two friends hoisting placards in support of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for Qadhafi's arrest.

The crowd cheered as National Transitional Council chairman Mustafa Mohamed Abdel Jalil took to the stage to deliver a message that focused on the need to respect the rule of law.

The demonstration came after a large pro-Qadhafi gathering in Tripoli last Friday that was beamed by satellite to rebel-controlled areas.

During that rally many citizens of Benghazi watched Qadhafi-backed state television and appeared crest-fallen at the prospect that the veteran leader still had vast numbers of supporters in the capital.

One organiser, Ramadan El-Kish, said the Benghazi rally hoped to prove a point: "First of all we want to say to Qadhafi: you are a liar. He says everyone is with him."

A Tripoli-based group calling itself "The Free Generation Movement" earlier called on people in Benghazi to turn out in force.

"The people of the capital need your help and call for your support," it said in a statement. "We call upon you to come out and show the world and show our nation where we stand."

But there was an edge to the festivities.

Security was tightened and numerous roadblocks were thrown up around the city, amid the recent discovery of a large car bomb outside an up-scale Benghazi hotel, raising the spectre of a Qadhafi fifth column.

Mobile phone coverage was cut across the city in an attempt to thwart any cell-phone detonated car bombs. But the demonstration passed off without any serious incident.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011