19-11-2024 07:30 PM Jerusalem Timing

Libya Interim Leader Comes under Fire

Libya Interim Leader Comes under Fire

The car of Libya’s interim leader, Mohammed al-Megeryef, came under fire in Tripoli on Tuesday night as he left a chaotic session of the national assembly disrupted by protesters, without causing casualties.

Libya's interim leader, Mohammad al-MegeryefThe car of Libya's interim leader, Mohammad al-Megeryef, came under fire in Tripoli on Tuesday night as he left a chaotic session of the national assembly disrupted by protesters, without causing casualties.

The demonstrators who disrupted the session of the General National Congress, the highest authority in Libya, in effect making Megeryef the country's interim leader, were armed and some carried explosives, Interior Minister Ashur Shwayel told a press conference.

Dozens of protesters insisting the national assembly adopt a bill banning from politics the associates of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi blocked MPs from leaving the meeting room in a southern suburb of Tripoli.

The official news agency LANA, quoting an assembly official, said Megeryef's car came under heavy gunfire. It was unclear if the attack was "an assassination bid or a collateral incident," the official said.

The bill is controversial because it could put more than 30 members of the General National Congress out of office, including al-Megeryef and even Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.

Proposed in December, the bill would ban from politics all officials of the Gaddafi regime and their associates.

Only earlier on Tuesday, the national assembly building was returned to its members after a month-long occupation by former rebels demanding compensation for injuries in the 2011 revolution that ousted Gaddafi, a security official said.