Libyans storm militia building after giant protest in wake of attack on US consulate

[Faygo Kid]

Source: Washington Post

BENGHAZI, Libya — Hundreds of protesters stormed the compound of one of Libya’s strongest armed Islamic extremist groups Friday, evicting militiamen and setting fire to their building as the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans sparked a public backlash against armed groups that run rampant in the country and defy the country’s new, post-Moammar Gadhafi leadership.

Armed men at the administrative center for the Ansar al-Shariah militia, suspected to have led the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Benghazi consulate, first fired in the air to disperse the crowd, but eventually withdrew from the site with their weapons and vehicles after it was surrounded by waves of protesters shouting “No to militias.”

“I don’t want to see armed men wearing Afghani-style clothes stopping me in the street to give me orders, I only want to see people in uniform,” said Omar Mohammed, a university student who took part in the takeover, which protesters said was done in support of the army and police.

No deaths were reported in the incident, which came after tens of thousands marched in Benghazi in a rally against armed militias. A vehicle was also burned at the compound, which was taken over by Libyan security forces after its occupants fled.

For many Libyans, last week’s attack on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi was the last straw with one of the biggest problems Libya has faced since Gadhafi’s ouster and death around a year ago — the multiple mini-armies that with their arsenals of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades are stronger than the regular armed forces and police. . .

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/libyans-hold-giant-march-demanding-militias-disband-in-wake-of-attack-on-us-consulate/2012/09/21/9203e21c-0406-11e2-9132-f2750cd65f97_story.html?hpid=z1

---

Well, that doesn't fit a certain anti-Muslim meme, does it?

[riverwalker]

1. more on bbc

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19680785

Hundreds of Libyan protesters have stormed the Benghazi headquarters of Islamist group Ansar al-Sharia in a backlash against last week's attack on the US consulate.
Earlier, some 30,000 protesters had marched through the eastern Libyan city calling for an end to the armed groups that have sprung up in the country since last year's ousting of Col Gaddafi.

[riverwalker]

2. found pics

[joshcryer]

5. Thank you for those wonderful pics riverwalker.

To think when Islamists in Libya went to Iraq and Afghanistan the Libyan people weren't allowed to protest them. But here in the new Free Libya protest is a right they've come to embrace wholeheartedly.

[Tx4obama]

9. Thank you for posting the photos! n/t

[Odin2005]

26. The religious loonies would stone the woman in pic #2...

...for not covering her head.

[pinto]

29. Kick

[jsr]

3. Good. Get rid of the murderous thugs.

[joshcryer]

4. There was always mistrust of the hardline islamists during the revolution.

They kept screwing shit up by doing stupid, racist, sectarian shit so the majority of Libyan revolutionaries aren't having it.

[Tx4obama]

6. K&R and HuffPo link to a AP article

Benghazi Anti-Militia Protest: Libyans March Against Armed Groups After U.S. Embassy Attack
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/21/benghazi-anti-militia-protest_n_1903846.html

[rsweets]

7. Those are the faces of the people if Islam that I know.

They are the people i have worked and respected for the
last 20 years. Many hours of wonderful discussions on religion and
belief. Good people ... got your back

[joshcryer]

8. THESE are the Libyans that overthrew Gaddafi, not the islamists...

...as so many here claim. Yes some islamists participated in the civil war actions but they didn't make up the overwhelming population that protested against Gaddafi and wanted him gone.

[rsweets]

11. they are all of the Islamic faith, what you see here are

the majority (Muslim is an adherent of Islam)

Islamist ... fundamental follower of Islam

[joshcryer]

15. Exactly.

I do intend "islamist" as "fundamentalist" or "hardliner" or "extremist." Which may be unfair.

[leveymg]

22. By your or my standards, Josh, most of them are Jihadi extremists, particularly in E. Libya.

That's what made that area so attractive for regime change, first against Ghadaffi and now, as a recruiting ground for Sunni Jihadi attacks against the Shi'ia regime in Syria, and tomorrow against Iran.

The westernized "liberals" you imagine these people are only number a small minority in Tripoli. Libya is a predominantly Sunni tribal society that is broken up into numerous local militant, armed factions. Don't mistake hatred for one of them by some of the others for support for us.

[joshcryer]

32. That's a rather broad brush, imo.

You could argue that, as some (more right wing) have done, about the entire Muslim society. I say give them an opportunity to enact democracy. Popular protest is what you need to help shed the violent elements as we see by this ouster of extremists from their bases in Benghazi.

Islam will take generations to normalize, it sucks, but that's how it is. Holding them down via junta or dictator will only prolong it.

[leveymg]

34. You must admit, facts are facts. But, the indictment here really isn't of political Islam,

as of those in the west who continue to be so deluded as to believe that we can continue to use Jihadi terrorists to fight other perceived enemies, and that won't blow-back again, as it did on 9/11. You'd think some people in the White House, State Department and CIA would have learned from that painful lesson. Apparently not.

Muslim society will evolve, but the creation and fueling of new wars by the west, Israel and the Saudis against Shi'ia Islam will probably retard and distort that development for generations.

[joshcryer]

36. "use Jihadi terrorists to fight other perceived enemies"

That may be the case in Syria but I don't see it as the case in Libya. Hell, if anything a lot of Libyan jihadists went off to help Syrians (for better or for worse).

[freshwest]

12. +1

[socialindependocrat]

10. This is an important post - Shows the real side of a new Libya - Thanks! n/a

[patrice]

13. K&R for the peace-loving people of Libya!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. YES!!! YES!!! YES!!!

Lovin' it!!!

[rollin74]

16. Beautiful! I hope we see much more of this

[dipsydoodle]

17. Later news here - Reuters

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/09/22/uk-protests-benghazi-idUKBRE88L01D20120922

[joshcryer]

18. "Say to Ansar al-Sharia, Benghazi will be your inferno."

Proof that Benghazi isn't "mostly islamists."

[dipsydoodle]

19. Remind me

Did Ansar al-Sharia claim reponsibility or where they blamed ?

[joshcryer]

20. Elements associated with them were seen acting against the embassay.

So, I doubt they'd claim responsibility, but their "innocence" is not in doubt.

Google "Ansar al-Sharia Libya" and you will see accounts where they were the first to be blamed. They attempted, in vein, to set up an islamist state in Eastern Libya, and the Libyan people distrust them immensely.

If you have evidence is was some other group I'd be interested in hearing it. Their flags flew during the attacks on the embassy and they are at minimum partially responsible.

This is the beginning of the end of islamist elements in Libya, that much is sure, whether they claimed responsibility (a joke, given that their HQ are in Benghazi) or were "blamed" is immaterial. It proves that the revolutionaries are not islamist in nature as you and others have claimed.

[dipsydoodle]

21. Thanks

No evidence to the contrary - was just askin' cos I couldn't recall . When have I said the revolutionaries are not Islamist in
nature ? I don't even express words in that way.

[joshcryer]

33. I recall an implication from you...

...that Benghazians were islamists (and that NATO was supporting an islamist uprising), etc. I can't for the life of me find it though. I may be mistaken. Apologies if that is not your position.

[dipsydoodle]

37. I may have written that Benghazians have their own agenda

but that would not have been associated with the sub groups of their religion in any way.

[Odin2005]

27. That's the Libyan way of saying "We're gonna kick your ass, you nutjobs!"

[pampango]

23. Juan Cole: ‘Free Libya’ Crowds in Benghazi rally against Militias, Drive al-Qaeda out of City

The attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 was seen by many observers as a sign of Libyan radicalism or instability rather than the work of a small, violent and unrepresentative group.

It is a little hard to understand this point of view, since Libyans had just voted in what observers felt were free and fair, transparent elections, and they had elected moderate, mainstream politicians. Even the Muslim Brotherhood lost in the elections. When I was in Benghazi in late May, I found people enormously proud of their municipal and then-planned national elections, and relieved finally to have escaped the nightmare of Qaddafi rule. The US ambassador killed in the consulate attack, Chris Stevens, was wildly popular among Libyans, and I, as an American, was warmly greeted wherever I went.

On Friday during the day, the people of Benghazi demonstrated in their tens of thousands for peace and against al-Qaeda-style radicalism. Many placards called Chris Stevens “a friend,” though sources on the ground cautioned that the rally was not primarily about foreign affairs. The crowds were angered by continued poor security, and by the affront to the honor of their city, the leading municipality in the revolution against Muammar Qaddafi (Gaddafi) in 2011, committed by radical Muslim groups when they attacked the US consulate. The demonstrations were an affirmation of Free Libya and a signal that the people did not overthrow the mercurial Qaddafi just to be dominated by pro-al-Qaeda thugs.

Then on Friday night, their frustration with the militiamen of the “Ansar al-Shariah” and other lawless groups boiled over, and they attacked three of their headquarters and drove them out of the city. One of the groups they attacked, the Rafullah Sahati Brigade, has Muslim fundamentalist tendencies and is rumored to be connected somehow to hard line fundamentalist elements in the Libyan Ministry of the interior, according to al-Hayat the attackers had some armed men among them. The battle lasted two hours, and in the end the militia decided to withdraw from the city.

Earlier, crowds had also driven the Ansar al-Shariah, a hard line fundamentalist group, out of Benghazi. Ansar al-Shariah is alleged to be the group behind the consulate attack, though its leaders deny it.

http://www.juancole.com/2012/09/free-libya-crowds-in-benghazi-rally-against-militias-drive-al-qaeda-out-of-city.html

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. Um, things are still pretty messy in Benghazi.

I just watched a report from CNN's Arwa Damon, who is on the scene. She was reporting from near another militia base on the outskirts of the city, which was under attack. The thing is, this was a pro-government militia, and she speculated that it was Gaddafi loyalists attacking it. People died in that incident.

[Odin2005]

25. So Libyans are giving a big FU to the religious loonies? Nice!

GO LIBYANS!!!

[fascisthunter]

35. now for Israel to do the same

and the US as well.

[Comrade Grumpy]

28. Attack on pro-government militia, 11 dead

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/libyan-islamist-militia-swept-out-of-benghazi-bases-8165538.html

<snip>

In a dramatic sign of Libya's fragility, after sweeping through Ansar's bases the crowd went on to attack a pro-government militia, believing them to be Islamists, triggering an armed response in which at least 11 people were killed and more than 60 wounded.

<snip>

"People in Benghazi and all over Libya want to get these militias under control ... The overwhelming feeling is against any element that keeps the situation unstable."

The second half of last night's protest proved his point. Continuing to chant anti-Ansar slogans, the crowd, swelling into the thousands, moved on to attack a separate compound where the powerful pro-government Rafallah al-Sahati militia, safeguarding a big weapons store, opened fire on the assailants.

As looters later tried to leave the scene, vigilantes wielding clubs and machetes tried to prevent them driving off with heavy weapons. Officials at three hospitals told a Reuters correspondent they had a total of five dead and more than 60 wounded from the night's violence. Police found six more dead bodies near the compound this morning, police officer Ahmed Ali Agouri said.

<snip>

Arwa Damon on CNN speculated that it was Gaddafi loyalists attacking the second militia base, but that doens't appear to be the case.

[pampango]

30. "People in Benghazi and all over Libya want to get these militias under control ...

The overwhelming feeling is against any element that keeps the situation unstable."

Nice.

[dipsydoodle]

31. Bodies of six militiamen found in Benghazi after attacks on bases

The Libyan city of Benghazi was tense after the bodies of six militiamen apparently executed after the storming of a base on the southern outskirts were discovered in a field.

The bodies were found the day after crowds marched on three militia bases, including that of Ansar al-Sharia, blamed by many in the city for the murder of the US ambassador, Chris Stevens, earlier this month. Funerals were held for nine protesters killed when crowds tried to force their way into the Rafallah al-Sahati militia base early on Saturday morning.

The militia was the only one of three to fire back when demonstrators swarmed over their bases, following a rally on Friday in which 30,000 people vowed to retake the streets of the city.

The interior minister, Fawzi Abdul Al, who was criticised for his failure to launch a full investigation of the murder of Stevens and three fellow diplomats, criticised the action of the crowds, saying the militias should have been given more time to incorporate into the official security forces.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/22/bodies-six-militiamen-found-benghazi

[dipsydoodle]

38. Update : Libya leader Magarief vows to disband illegal militias

The interim Libyan leader, Mohammed Magarief, has vowed to disband all illegal militias in the aftermath of the US ambassador's death this month.

All camps and militias not under the authority of the government would be dissolved and no unauthorised checkpoints allowed, he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-19691510

[arely staircase]

39. western intervention, i am convinced more than ever

was appropriate and moral in the case of the libyan revolution. what started out as a mission to prevent a massacre in benghazi has, imho, given this great people a chance at real freedom.