Libya’s Day of Rage: 38 injured in Beghazi clashes

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At least 38 people were injured in clashes in the eastern city of Benghazi, a Libyan newspaper said Wednesday.

Security forces and demonstrators clashed in the city late on Tuesday, in what it branded the work of “saboteurs” among a small group of protestors, Libya’s Quryna newspaper said.

The protest started as a sit-in by families of prisoners killed in a 1996 shooting in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison demanding the release of their lawyer Fethi Tarbel.

Tarbel had been detained for having “spread rumors that the prison (in Tripoli)” was on fire, according to Quryna, but was release after the demonstration.

The demonstrators gathered in the wee hours of the morning in front of police headquarters and chanted slogans against the ” corrupt rulers of the country.”

As many as 14 people were injured in the clashes, including three demonstrators and 10 security officials.

Anti-government protesters have also called on citizens to observe Thursday as a “Day of Rage,” in hopes of emulating the recent popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt to end Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s 41-year old rule.

The country’s official news agency made no mention of the protests, saying only that supporters of Gaddafi were demonstrating in the capital Tripoli, in Benghazi and in other cities. Xinhua

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