Witnesses: Escalating Libyan protests spread west toward capital

Word from inside Libya of more protests

(CNN) -- Defiant after four decades under Moammar Gadhafi's hard-line rule, thousands of Libyans voiced their discontent in the eastern city of Benghazi, where a doctor treating the injured Saturday described hovering helicopters firing into the crowds and the sound of gunfire.

The doctor said dozens of injured people were hospitalized, most suffering from gunshot wounds.

"The situation is critical right now," said the doctor who CNN is not identifying for security reasons. "The city is effectively under siege."

At least 84 people have been killed by government security forces in three days of protests across Libya, said Human Rights Watch, based on telephone interviews with local hospital staff and witnesses.

CNN could not independently confirm information on the escalating unrest in Libya, the most isolated nation in the region. The government has not permitted the network to report from Libya and maintains tight control over communications.

 

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CNN has been gathering information from witnesses iin several Libyan cities via telephone interviews. They said Saturday that the internet has been shut down as has text messaging on mobile phones. They said they were unable to dial international numbers but could still receive calls.

Despite fears that a brutal crackdown was imminent, crowds massed in front of Benghazi's main courthouse again on Saturday, witnesses told CNN in telephone interviews. Saturday marked the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations in Benghazi, Lybia's second largest city.

They reported similar demonstrations the cities of al-Baida, Ajdabiya and more significantly in Misrata, only 250 kilometers east of the capital, Tripoli, an indication that the demonstrations centered in the east were spreading west.

Human Rights Watch reported that security forces killed 35 people in Benghazi on Friday and a lawyer who was protesting Saturday said crowds turned up for the funeral processions of 11 of those victims. The lawyer said he sensed the level of anger had risen since the day before.

Another protester, Moftah, told CNN that Libyans, inspired by the toppling of dictators in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia, had simply had enough of Gadhafi.

"This man always makes you afraid of your family, of your friends," Moftah said.

"He will tell you that his secret police are everywhere," Moftah said. "It's time to break this fear barrier. We reach a point that we dont' care anymore. We want this regime to go away."

The pro-Gadhafi online newspaper Quryna reported that 24 people were killed during the Benghazi protests Friday when they tried to attack a military battalion and a security directorate.

The newspaper said protesters set afire all the police stations inside the city.

A Libyan source in exile, who has knowledge of events inside the country, said Saturday that the government was bringing in special military units to quell the unrest in eastern Libya.

"More and more of the east is coming under the control of the protesters because of the tribal structure in the country," said the source, who did not want to be identified. "Police and security forces there also belong to tribes and they will not fire on their own tribesman."

To counter that, the government is using "military squads of African origin," the source said. "They are not restricted or bound by tribal ties," and can therefore be counted on to carry out a lethal campaign of suppression."

"Violence in the east will escalate because of the tribal mentality of revenge," the source said, adding that reports of the violence there was already fueling sporadic demonstrations in western Libya.

As a result, the situation is "getting very dangerous for the regime," the source said

Gadhafi's regime, however, has sought to portray a different picture of events and sent out tacit warnings via mobile phone texts to Libyans planning to make their voices known.

"The inappropriate use of telecommunications services contradicts our religion ... our customs ... and our traditions," said a text from the General Communications Body.

And Libyan state-run television aired taped images of Gadhafi surrounded by adoring crowds.

U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the government crackdowns in Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, which are all embroiled in unrest.

"Wherever they are, people have certain universal rights, including the right to peaceful assembly," Obama said. "The United States urges the governments of Bahrain, Libya and Yemen to show restraint in responding to peaceful protests, and to respect the rights of their people."

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, also condemned the crackdown in Libya and other countries "as illegal and excessively heavy-handed."

Libya, like many of its Arab neighbors, is suffering from economic hardship and a lack of political reform. Youth unemployment is high.

Gadhafi is acutely aware of popular grievances and has spoken with groups of students, lawyers and journalists in the past few weeks, a source told CNN earlier this week.