Libya - Saif Gaddafi, TV Address, 20 Feb 2011

[Charleston Chew]

Run time: 04:33 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLTYR2iK13Y   Posted on YouTube: February 21, 2011 By YouTube Member: TelLieVision1 Views on YouTube: 30   Posted on DU: February 21, 2011 By DU Member: Charleston Chew Views on DU: 523

 
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of strongman Muammar Gaddafi, says that Libya is on the verge of civil war, branding the unprecedented protests against his father's rule a foreign plot.

Blaming Arab and African expatriates of fomenting unrest in the country, he said the violence was aimed at installing Islamist rule, in a speech on national television in the early hours of Monday morning.

Gaddafi also pledged a new constitution and new liberal laws.

In the tough-talking, finger-wagging speech, Gaddafi's son blamed foreign media of inflating the death toll but warned that any uprising would be ruthlessly suppressed.

"Libya is not Egypt, it is not Tunisia. There are no political parties in Libya," he said.

"We will take up arms... we will fight to the last bullet," he said. "We will destroy seditious elements.

"If everybody is armed, it is civil war, we will kill each other."

Gaddafi said his father is in the country and is backed by the army, "we will fight to the last minute, until the last bullet."

He said protesters had seized control of some military bases, weapons and tanks and he warned of civil war in the country that would burn its oil wealth.

A short time before his address, intense gunfire was heard in the heart of the Libyan capital Tripoli and several quarters of the city, witnesses said.

"We are hearing bursts of gunfire everywhere and they are approaching the city centre," a resident of the Al-Andalous quarter told AFP by telephone about the unrest in the early hours of Monday.

Another resident reported gunfire in the Mizran area, near downtown Tripoli.
A local of the working-class Gurgi area said security forces fired tear gas to disperse anti-government protesters.

"There are demonstrations. We are hearing anti-regime slogans and firing. Our house is filled with tear gas," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.