Tripoli. (Writing / Agencies) .- sandwiched between two revolutions, the Egyptian and Tunisian, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the doyen of Arab dictators, saw yesterday how the first serious protest raged against his authority. Two thousand people filled the streets of Benghazi in the early hours of Wednesday, and at least 38 were injured in various clashes with police and groups support the regime.
Benghazi, with 670,000 inhabitants, is the second largest city in Libya and has never had an easy relationship with Qaddafi. In the Group grew its environment for the Libyan Islamic Fighting (GLCI), the organization that has beaten more severely the State and has now renounced violence but not to fight.
Indeed, the fuse that ignited the riots of yesterday was the arrest of lawyer and human rights activist Fathi Tarbela. Police questioned him for several hours while his supporters burned cars and threw petrol bombs and stones at government buildings. Was eventually released and dispersed the protesters with water cannons and tear gas.
Tarbela coordinates to the families of over a thousand GLCI prisoners were massacred in 1996 in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. In this same prison, and in a gesture that may be related to the protests, left yesterday the last 110 prisoners of GLCI. A spokesman of the revolutionary committees, the backbone of the state fell to just 150 demonstrators in Benghazi and promised more repression against those who do not use "legal channels" to be heard "even if they ask the fall of the regime." Among the slogans chanted yesterday at Benghazi in favor of freedom and democracy is the "outside the corrupt." May now be heard again in Tripoli and other cities if he wins the call via the Internet in a protest against Gaddafi.
At least 9,000 people have signed up the Facebook group that wants to turn the day today in a day of wrath. The result of this protest in a country without political parties and where dissidents are persecuted, it will mark the future of the regime. Gaddafi believes that Facebook is part of "imperialist conspiracy" and people will point to this or other social networks are persecuted.
Another bete noire of the regime is the network Al Jazeera, who has played a key role in the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. While the satellite news channel reported the facts in Benghazi, Libyan television was broadcasting the demonstrations in support of Gaddafi yesterday were held in various Libyan cities.
Colonel, thanks to the huge reserves of gas and oil from its basement, has achieved in recent years to recover many supporters in the West. Spain, Italy and Britain are among the countries that have come to his regime. London even freed the brain of the Lockerbie bombing in return for access to Libyan gas.
State terrorism directed Gaddafi down a Pan Am Jumbo over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Killed 270 people. Libya has paid compensation to the families of the victims and the UN has lifted sanctions maintained since then. Dismantle chemical weapons program, renounce atomic bomb and open the doors to international tourism have been other gestures of Gaddafi to build a new personality on the international scene.
The protests, however, may end up revealing his true face. 
Benghazi, with 670,000 inhabitants, is the second largest city in Libya and has never had an easy relationship with Qaddafi. In the Group grew its environment for the Libyan Islamic Fighting (GLCI), the organization that has beaten more severely the State and has now renounced violence but not to fight.
Indeed, the fuse that ignited the riots of yesterday was the arrest of lawyer and human rights activist Fathi Tarbela. Police questioned him for several hours while his supporters burned cars and threw petrol bombs and stones at government buildings. Was eventually released and dispersed the protesters with water cannons and tear gas.
Tarbela coordinates to the families of over a thousand GLCI prisoners were massacred in 1996 in Abu Salim prison in Tripoli. In this same prison, and in a gesture that may be related to the protests, left yesterday the last 110 prisoners of GLCI. A spokesman of the revolutionary committees, the backbone of the state fell to just 150 demonstrators in Benghazi and promised more repression against those who do not use "legal channels" to be heard "even if they ask the fall of the regime." Among the slogans chanted yesterday at Benghazi in favor of freedom and democracy is the "outside the corrupt." May now be heard again in Tripoli and other cities if he wins the call via the Internet in a protest against Gaddafi.
At least 9,000 people have signed up the Facebook group that wants to turn the day today in a day of wrath. The result of this protest in a country without political parties and where dissidents are persecuted, it will mark the future of the regime. Gaddafi believes that Facebook is part of "imperialist conspiracy" and people will point to this or other social networks are persecuted.
Another bete noire of the regime is the network Al Jazeera, who has played a key role in the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. While the satellite news channel reported the facts in Benghazi, Libyan television was broadcasting the demonstrations in support of Gaddafi yesterday were held in various Libyan cities.
Colonel, thanks to the huge reserves of gas and oil from its basement, has achieved in recent years to recover many supporters in the West. Spain, Italy and Britain are among the countries that have come to his regime. London even freed the brain of the Lockerbie bombing in return for access to Libyan gas.
State terrorism directed Gaddafi down a Pan Am Jumbo over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Killed 270 people. Libya has paid compensation to the families of the victims and the UN has lifted sanctions maintained since then. Dismantle chemical weapons program, renounce atomic bomb and open the doors to international tourism have been other gestures of Gaddafi to build a new personality on the international scene.
The protests, however, may end up revealing his true face.
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