Live Blog - Libya

Live coverage in Libya

(All times are local in Libya)

February 19

7:43pm: A resident of the eastern city of Benghazi makes a plea on Al Jazeera, saying hospitals in the city have been overwhelmed by the number of dead and injured.

7:00pm: A video billed as the first footage of protests in the Libyan city of Mesrata has been posted, appearing to show demonstrators in the streets shouting "The people want a change in regime". We cannot confirm where or when this video was shot.

6:34pm: A resident of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has just left this audio recording with the site @Feb17voices after surveying the situation there, where she says 10,000 prisoners have escaped from a prison after a riot. It is not possible for Al Jazeera to independently verify her report. Listen to it here.

"There are a few police cars outside, they're roaming around. There's security at the prison. Last night there was a release of 10,000 prisoners. We passed by and they closed off the whole street."

4:00pm: Making the rounds on Facebook is a protest video, featuring the music of Libyan rapper Ibn Thabit. The video compilation is described as a "personal effort by a son of Libya to take part in what is now becoming a change across the entire Arab world". Check it out on YouTube here.

1:10pm A source inside Benghazi tells Al Jazeera that the situation remains tense there today:

People woke up this morning with dozens of bodies and burnet vehicles in the streets. Snipers are still active in central Benghazi whilst other parts are completely liberated.

A funeral will go out from Al Jalaa Hospital and (perhaps) ... over 120 bodies are there. No details from other towns as mobile networks are very limited.

11:34am The AP reports that Libyan "special forces" have stormed a protest encampent in Benghazi earlier today:

At 5:00 am on Saturday, special forces attacked hundreds of protesters, including lawyers and judges, camped out in front of the courthouse in the eastern city of Benghazi, which has been a focus for the anti-government
unrest.

'They fired tear gas on protesters in tents and cleared the areas after many fled carrying the dead and the injured,' one protester said over the phone from Benghazi. 'This is a ghost city; we are all afraid that something big is going to happen in Benghazi today.'

8:49am Al Jazeera reports that protests have now taken place in Benghazi, Darnah, Baida, Ajabiya, Quba, Tobruk, Zentan, Tripoli, Tajoura and Shahhat, and that a police station was set on fire in Benghazi. The security headquarters in Darnah was also burned down.

8:17am The AP news agency reports that the situation in Libya is worsening with an escalating crackdown that has sent "a stream" of bodies into hospitals and morgues.

The deaths took place in the city of Benghazi after funerals for more than a dozen protesters shot to death a day earlier. The doctor in Benghazi's al-Jalaa hospital said survivors of Friday's clashes said that after the burials, protesters tried to rally outside the Katiba, a military compound where Ghadafi stays when he visits.

Security forces inside the compound opened fire on protesters as they approached, the doctor said. Dead and wounded began flowing into the hospital's emergency ward in the afternoon, in groups of five or six, many with bullet wounds to the head or chest. He said he counted 35 bodies in an ICU unit used as a temporary morgue.

Al Jazeera has received footage of what appear to be one such makeshift morgue, but is unable to confirm where the material is from. Here are some still shots from the footage - note that the bodies are stored on the ground and in cupboards.

8:08am Amid reports of protests outside court houses and police stations, Al Jazeera has found video of what appears to be a protest outside an official building, possibly a police station. They are shouting, "Oh, Benghazi, come see the oppressed people", and are shouting at the police stationed outside the building "Shame on you, you lied to us."

Al Jazeera cannot confirm when or where the video was taken.

7:41am There are reports that the internet access continues to be shut down in Libya today. The AFP reports:

Internet service was cut off in Libya on Friday as the regime evidently moved to strip anti-government protestors of ways to organize and communicate, according to Arbor Networks. Libya "abruptly disconnected" from the Internet at 4:15 pm.(00:15 GMT Saturday), according to the US based tracker of online traffic. Internet traffic in and out of the country halted suddenly after being throttled earlier in the day, according to an Arbor Networks chart titled.

5:50am Human Rights Watch now says that Libyan Security forces have killed 84 people over three days Here's the breakdown they give on their site:

20 people in Benghazi, 23 in Baida, three in Ajdabiya, and three in Derna. Hospital sources told Human Rights Watch that security forces killed 35 people in Benghazi on February 18, almost all with live ammunition.

URL du live: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/middle-east/2011/02/17/live-blog-libya