An embattled Muammar Gaddafi said he would throw open the country’s arsenals to his supporters in a rabble-rousing speech yesterday that presaged a bloody battle for the Libyan capital.
In a brief but chilling address in Tripoli’s Green Square, Colonel Gaddafi told hundreds of cheering supporters to prepare themselves for a fight to defend the city.
His loyalists had earlier killed several people in shooting that spread through the capital and French President Nicolas Sarkozy became the first world leader to openly demand the Libyan leader’s ouster.
As outraged Western governments scrambled to craft a collective response to a bloody crackdown which has claimed hundreds of lives, the United States said it was moving ahead with unilateral and multilateral sanctions against the regime.
The European Union agreed to slap an arms embargo, asset freezes and travel bans on Libya.
The move came hours before the UN Security Council was due to meet to discuss options to respond to Libya’s repression of its people, and following complaints that the international response was too slow.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to take “decisive action” on the crisis where he said more than 1,000 people have now been killed.“Loss of time means more loss of lives,” he told the 15-nation council.In a rooftop address, Col Gaddafi called on his partisans in the square below to “defend Libya.” “If needs be, we will open all the arsenals.
“We will fight them and we will beat them,” he said as frenzied supporters raised portraits of the leader and waved the country’s green flag.
Almost the entire east of the oil-rich North African country has slipped from Col Gaddafi’s control since a popular uprising began with protests in the port city of Benghazi on February 15.
Hundreds of people have been killed in a brutal crackdown, and tens of thousands of foreigners have scrambled to leave the country.
State television showed the 68-year-old leader repeatedly raising his arms and shaking his fists during the brief appearance while shouting that the Libyan people “love Gaddafi.”“Life without dignity has no value, life without green flags has no value,” Col Gaddafi told them. “Sing, dance and prepare yourselves.”
Some of the crowd chanted “God, Muammar, Libya and that’s all.”
This was Col Gaddafi’s third public statement this week. He previously called on his followers to crush the insurrection and later said Al-Qaeda was behind what he called “drug crazed mobs” of young people trying to unseat him.
In Ankara, meanwhile, Mr Sarkozy said “Mr Gaddafi must go,” becoming the first world leader to demand the ouster of the 68-year-old former army colonel who seized power in a 1969 coup.
“The systematic violence against the Libyan people is unacceptable and will be the subject of investigations and sanctions,” Mr Sarkozy added at a joint news conference with Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul.
In Tripoli, security forces opened fire indiscriminately on worshippers leaving prayers, desperate to prevent any new protests on the weekly Muslim day of rest, residents told AFP by telephone.
Two people were killed in the Fashlum neighbourhood and several more in Sug al-Jomaa, witnesses said.Both are eastern suburbs where security forces had opened fire on previous days, but sustained gunfire was also reported in the western district of Ghut Ashaal.With police and troops deployed in force outside their mosques, prayer leaders followed texts for their sermons that had been imposed by the authorities calling for an end to “sedition,” worshippers said.The United States withdrew embassy personnel from Tripoli and “shuttered” its embassy for security reasons, the White House said yesterday.