Longtime Libyan strongman Col. Moammar Gadhafi faced what appeared to be the greatest resistance to his rule Friday, with human-rights and opposition groups reporting demonstrations in several Libyan cities that met a deadly government response.
New York-based Human Rights Watch put the death toll at at least 84 in three days of protests. Human-rights and opposition groups also reported difficulty contacting witnesses inside Libya, suggesting Internet and mobile-phone disruptions.
Renesys, an Internet operability tracker, said Libya appeared to have cut off most Internet connections late Friday, but that much of the service —about two-thirds—had been restored early Saturday.
Groups monitoring Libya said the army has been deployed to the restive, eastern city of Benghazi, scene of this week's first and largest clashes between pro-Gadhafi forces and protesters who seek regime change.
Tawfiq Alghazwani, a Dublin-based member of the National Congress of Libyan Opposition who cited witnesses inside Libya, said protests took place in nine cities Friday, the largest move against Col. Gadhafi in his 42 years of rule. Mr. Alghazwani said 100,000 people—including professionals, women and youth—turned out in Benghazi, Libya's second city.
Since Tuesday, protesters have railed against corruption, unemployment, lack of political freedom and repression of civil rights.
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Mr. Alghazwani's group placed the week's death toll at above 90. He said several of these demonstrators had been shot by Gadhafi militias and what people on the ground said they believed from their nonlocal dialect to be mercenaries from outside Libya.
It wasn't possible to independently verify these claims, and Libya's government has clamped down on journalists covering protests and has arrested several journalists this week.
Initial reports by Mr. Alghazwani's body, a union of Libyan opposition groups, on previous demonstrations and protester death tolls have largely been confirmed later by rights groups and news outlets.
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European Pressphoto Agency
Government supporters shout slogans and hold portraits of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi during a pro-government gathering in Tripoli on Thursday.
As the wave of protests spreads across North Africa and the Middle East, amateur video from Libya appeared to show unrest in Al Bayda. Video courtesy of Reuters.
The reports came as online Libyan newspaper Quryna reported a meeting set for next week of Libya's legislative forum, the General People's Congress, will be postponed.
A government spokesman said he expects the body to meet in early March, and that changes will be announced in response to the unrest. "I anticipate a minister reshuffle, and that should go some way to appease the protesters," said spokesman Abdulmajeed Eldursi.
"Some ministers may lose their posts—there will be no immunity for a single person if the ministers are not doing their duties the proper way," he added.
Mr. Alghazwani, the Dublin-based opposition member, said troops in Benghazi are guarding main buildings including banks and the offices of the Libyan central bank, but that the army hasn't been involved in clashes with protesters.
Signaling the scale of the breakdown in civil order in east Libya, a traditional hotbed of anti-Gadhafi activity, some local police in Benghazi and the town of Al Baida battled beside protesters against central-government security forces, according to Mr. Alghazwani and others.
Both Mr. Alghazwani and analysts from HRW said pro-Gadhafi loyalists who had camped in the main athletics stadium in Benghazi in previous nights had left the stadium and city center.
Libya's capital, Tripoli, remained free of antiregime rallies. State media broadcast large, pro-government rallies, showing Col. Gadhafi, in his trademark white suit, driving through Tripoli, rallying thousands Thursday.
Col. Gadhafi, who has held a tight grip on power and tolerates little public dissent—is the latest to be threatened by an upwelling of popular sentiment against established Arab regimes.
Regional Upheaval
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A succession of rallies and demonstrations, in Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Algeria, Bahrain and Iran have been inspired directly by the popular outpouring of anger that toppled Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. See how these uprisings have progressed.
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Libyan pro-government supporters in Tripoli on Feb. 16. hold portraits of leader Moammar Gadhafi to show support for the veteran leader.
Amid unrest elsewhere, analysts said the Libyan clashes could become serious enough to rattle oil markets and the international petroleum industry, which is active in the country. Libya is one of the world's largest oil producers.
"The situation in Libya is gaining momentum now," said Theodore Karasik, director of research at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis. That could worry Western oil firms, who in recent years have reengaged in Libya after the country's long spell as a pariah state.
In 2003, Libya agreed to give up its nuclear program, opening the door to increased Western investment. In 2007, U.K. oil-giant BP PLC signed a $900 million exploration and production contract. The company is due to drill at least five wells offshore Libya this year.
"We are monitoring the situation, but [BP] activities, such as they are, are pretty small at the moment and unaffected," said BP spokesman Robert Wine in London.
A small gathering of protesters, calling for the release from jail of a human-rights attorney, swelled into a violent anti-regime demonstration in Benghazi late Tuesday. Since then, local media, human-rights and opposition groups outside the country have reported a series of clashes across Libya.
Opposition groups and Internet-based organizers called for demonstrations against Col. Gadhafi's rule Thursday, the anniversary of two separate, bloody crackdowns in Benghazi by Libyan forces.
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Associated Press
Gadhafi backers Friday in Tripoli.
Human Rights Watch said hundreds of peaceful protesters took to the streets Thursday in Benghazi and at least four other towns. "Libyan security forces shot and killed the demonstrators in efforts to disperse the protests," the group said in an emailed statement Friday, citing witnesses.
Some of the worst violence was in the town of Al Baida, east of Benghazi, the group said. Human Rights Watch said hospital staff put out a call for additional medical supplies, overwhelmed by an influx of 70 injured protesters, half of which were said to be in critical condition from gunshot wounds.
The organization said a witness in Benghazi said hundreds of lawyers and activists gathered in front of the city's high court Thursday evening to demand constitutional reform and rule of law.
Mr. Alghazwani, who said he has been monitoring clashes all week through his contacts inside Libya, said about 3,000 lawyers and professionals camped outside the court. Thousands more youths gathered in support and clashed throughout the night with security forces, he said, placing his estimate of casualties at over 50.
None of the deaths were immediately verifiable. Videos circulated on social-networking sites showed Libyan protesters chanting, "People want to bring down the regime!" and "Al Jazeera, you are right," a reference to the Qatar-based satellite news station that has aggressively covered the regional unrest.
Online.wsj.com
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