Libya marks revolution day as leader issues warning

[ellisonz]

A Libyan girl dressed as an angel waves the victory sign during celebrations in the streets of the eastern city of Benghazi. Libya began celebrating on Friday the first anniversary of the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi, with fireworks and slogans, even as its new leader vowed to act firmly against further instability. (AFP Photo/Gianluigi Guercia)

By Jay Deshmukh | AFP – 42 mins ago

Libyans on Friday celebrated the first anniversary of the uprising against Moamer Kadhafi with fireworks and slogans, even as its new leader vowed to act firmly against further instability.

The former rebels who toppled Kadhafi last year with NATO backing set up fresh checkpoints in the capital Tripoli, in Benghazi, the eastern birthplace of the uprising, the western port city of Misrata and other towns.

Libya's new rulers have not organised any official celebrations at a national level as a mark of respect for the thousands of people killed in the bloody conflict that saw Kadhafi captured and slain on October 20.

But spontaneous commemorations began nationwide in cities and towns led by residents of Benghazi, the city which first rose against Kadhafi and his 42-year regime.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/libya-marks-revolution-day-leader-issues-warning-032753316.html

[riverwalker]

1. amazing to look back

Follow #feb17 on Twitter for interesting look back from around the world, and celebrations of today.
Andy Carvin of NPR is in Benghazi today @acarvin meeting for the first time activists he has been communicating with for a year. Lots of photos.

Fascinating BBC report of how it all began. (This video http://feb17.info/media/protesters-tear-down-green-book-statue-in-tobruq/ that sparked worldwide was uploaded by a guy who locked himself inside a Internet Cafe. He finished uploading just as the Internet was cut off, but it was too late. Later, without the Internet, activists would drive to the border and hand memory cards to Egyptians to upload to You Tube.)

Benghazi: Birthplace of a revolution.

[ellisonz]

3. Thank you for posting! n/t

[dipsydoodle]

2. Year after Libya Uprising, Militias Hold Sway

(TRIPOLI, Libya) — One militia controls the airport. Others carve up neighborhoods of the Libyan capital into fiefdoms. They clash in the streets, terrifying residents. They hold detainees in makeshift prisons where torture is said to be rampant.

As Libya on Friday marks the one-year anniversary of the start of the uprising against Moammar Gadhafi, hundreds of armed militias are the real power on the ground in the country, and the government that took the longtime strongman's place is largely impotent, unable to rein in fighters, rebuild decimated institutions or stop widespread corruption. (See more on fundamentalist war on modern Islam.)

The revolutionary militias contend they are Libya's heroes — the ones who drove Gadhafi from power and who now keep security in the streets at a time when the police and military are all but nonexistent. They insist they won't give up their weapons to a government that is too weak, too corrupt and, they fear, too willing to let elements of the old dictatorship back into positions of power.

"I am fed up," said the commander of a militia of fighters from the western mountain town of Zintan who control Tripoli's airport. Al-Mukhtar al-Akhdar says Libya's politicians unfairly blame the militias for the country's chaos while doing nothing to bring real change.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2107123,00.html#ixzz1mf8ZnCCc