Four Killed as Libya Braced for “Day of Anger”: Opposition, NGOs

Libya faces on Thursday a nationwide "Day of Anger", as the opposition and the NGOs say that at least four people have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Libya faces on Thursday a nationwide "Day of Anger", as the opposition and the NGOs say that at least four people have been killed in clashes with security forces.

Opposition websites and a Libyan rights group based in London said the clashes with demonstrators opposed to the regime of Libya's leader Moamer Kadhafi took place on Wednesday in the eastern town of Al-Baida.

"Internal security forces and militias of the Revolutionary Committees used live ammunition to disperse a peaceful demonstration by the youth of Al-Baida," leaving "at least four dead and several injured," according to Libya Watch.

Cyber-activists called on protesters to take to streets on Thursday, to demand Kadhafi, who has been in power since 1969, resign.
One Facebook group urging a "Day of Anger" in Libya, which had 4,400 members on Monday, had seen that number more than double to 9,600 by Wednesday following the Benghazi unrest.

Quryna newspaper said security forces and demonstrators already clashed late on Tuesday in Benghazi, also eastern Libya, in what it branded the work of "saboteurs" among a small group of protesters.

Both Britain and the European Union called for restraint by the authorities in Libya, whose relations with the West have improved sharply over the past decade after years of virtual pariah status.

British Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said: "I call on the Libyan government to respect the right of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, and on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence.
"We are concerned by reports of the arrest of Libyans who have called for demonstrations or spoken to the media and of violent incidents during demonstrations in Benghazi," he added.

The European Union urged Libya to allow "free expression". "We also call for calm and for all violence to be avoided," said a spokeswoman for the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.