Live Blog - Libya Feb 27

Live Blog - Libya Feb 27

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from sources, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

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Benghazi Protest Radio (Arabic)

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

• Timestamp: 

  10:30pm

  Since the beginning of the uprising in Libya, almost two weeks back, twitter has been aflutter with continuous debate, conversation and outrage over the latest developments in #Libya #Feb17
  
   

• Timestamp: 

  10:20pm

  Media advisory issued by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) - a civil society network in 150 countries advocating for a fair, effective and independent ICC and improved access to justice for victims of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity – issued in relation to the referral by the Security Council of the United Nations (UNSC) of the situation in Libya to the ICC.
  
  
  
   

• Timestamp: 

  10:06pm

  APTN reports that supporters loyal to Libyan leader Gaddafi staged a protest on Sunday at Harsha town, some thirty-five kilometres south west of Tripoli on the route to Zawiya city. Zawiya was taken over by anti-government rebels and army defectors four days ago and is now a likely target for forces loyal to the regime. Chanting protesters held pictures of Gadhafi in Harsha, chanted slogans praising their leader and waved Libyan flags.The protest came after the regime, eager to show foreign reporters that the country is calm and under their control, took visiting journalists to Zawiya, around fifty kilometres west of Tripoli. APTN added that the tour confirmed the anti-government rebels are in control of the centre of the city of two hundred thousand.

• Timestamp: 

  9:52pm

  These are some shots that show the types of weapons used against the battalion in the city of Misurata. Sent in through Sharek, Al Jazeera's citizen journalist portal. 

• Timestamp: 

  9:18pm

  Free Ulema - Libya, a network "of some of Libya’s most senior and most respected Muslim Religious Scholars with various specializations and tribal backgrounds from across our beloved Libya"  have released a press statement "endorsing and supporting the sequence of Declarations of the Revolution of February 17th, 2011, that culminated yesterday in the announcement by the Jurist Mr. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, on behalf of the various coordination committees, of the formation of the new Libyan interim government"

• Timestamp: 

  9:06pm

  Another doctor from Tripoli sends us a message: 

  At Tripoli Medical Centre on Friday 25th 2011 between 5 pm -10pm, there were 13 dead and many more injured ... patients were taken to the central operation theatre and security forces from the govermant were waiting outside to detain them... we are in very very bad situation.

• Timestamp: 

  8:46pm

  In the Economist's Newsbook Blog

  In LIBYA the bloodshed continues, as does Muammar Qaddafi’s defiance in the face of his people’s protests and international outrage. Arab commentators have been scrutinising those who have supported Mr Qaddafi over the years, wondering what can be done to prevent further violence and asking and how the various Arab revolutions will cope with challenges of making the transition to democracy. 

• Timestamp: 

  8:40pm

  A defected army officer teaches the use of an anti-aircraft gun to civilians who have volunteered to join the rebel army in Benghazi February 27, 2011. The rebel army is preparing to fight Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's forces in Tripoli if necessary, an official in the rebel army said. Via Reuters.
  
   

• Timestamp: 

  7:30pm

  Reports coming in the UK has revoked Gaddafi's diplomatic immunity, putting pressure on the Libyan leader to step down. Officials said the move was an unprecedented step by Britain against a serving head of state.

• Timestamp: 

  6:23pm

  AJE source who was shot in the leg with rubber bullets on Friday says:
  
  

   Tripoli is a civil city no weapons here; we just fight with stones, even the ambulances are full of mercenaries ... you have to sign a document that you agree that your son/daughter was killed by protesters or they won't release the body ... lot of people have gone missing ... kidnapped from outside their houses, people paid 7000 dinars to kidnap ... my friends were shot by snipers on Friday ... they died, and an old man died in front of him as well ...around 40,000 people were protesting ... there many snipers around -i have videos, but they are after me - they will catch me.

• Timestamp: 

  5:05pm

  Reuters reports that Opponents of Muammar Gaddafi in eastern Libya said on Sunday they had formed a National Libyan Council, saying it was not an interim government but described it as the face of the revolution. A spokesman for the new council said he saw no room for any negotiation with Gaddafi's government.

• Timestamp: 

  4:20pm

  How will the world's war crimes court act on Libya? Q & A with Reuters.
  
  
  

• Timestamp: 

  3:50pm

  AFP reports that while Libyan leader Gaddafi may be reviled by many of his own people and the international community, he's enjoying an unexpected surge of popularity - as a music video star. The clip was created by Israeli musician and DJ Noy Alooshe and appears to be wildly popular in the Arab world despite its origins in the Jewish state.

  A remix of a rambling 75-minute speech Gaddafi delivered on Tuesday, set to dance music and featuring the strongman alongside footage of two gyrating girls, has gone viral on the Internet....racked up almost half a million views on the video-sharing website YouTube since it was posted three days ago. Called "Zenga Zenga," the music video mixes Gaddafi's quotes with club beats, using lines in which he vows to fight "inch by inch, home by home, alley by alley" as the chorus for the song.

  But Alooshe also posted online a version of the spoof hit without the scantily clad dancing girls to take into account sensibilities in the Muslim world. This version (below) has some catching up to do in terms of popularity, with about 50,000 hits so far.

  
   

• Timestamp: 

  3:35pm

  The end of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's rule was "inevitable", the foreign minister of Italy said today.

   We have reached, I believe, a point of no return," Frattini told Sky Italia television.

• Timestamp: 

  3:25pm

  Some updates on evacuations by country. Reuters reports that China's Eastern Airlines will send eight chartered flights in the coming days to evacuate the Chinese from Malta. Military sources said Germany is sending three ships to Libya to help evacuate German citizens.Croatia said 28 Croatian workers have left Benghazi on an Italian military ship bound for Malta.The Greek passenger ship Nisos Rodos with 390 evacuees on board, mainly Brazilians and Filipinos but also Thai, Portugese, Dutch and Britons, has docked at the port of Piraeus. More than 530 Indian nationals arrived from Tripoli at New Delhi International airport on two Air India flights on Sunday.

• Timestamp: 

  1:48pm

  Khalid, a resident of Libya's third-largest city Misurata, spoke to Al Jazeera's Sami Zeidan about who is in control after clashes and a standoff with an army unit.

  He said security forces have been driven out of the city.

• Timestamp: 

  12:49pm

  We're getting reports of Libyan customs officers deserting their posts in Ras Ajdir along the border with Tunisia. More soon... 

• Timestamp: 

  12:33pm

  Kevin Rudd, the Australian foreign minister, said he believes Gaddafi's days in power are numbered. We mentioned a few of his quotes from his interview on Al Jazeera in an earlier post. Now you can see the interview yourself:

• Timestamp: 

  11:45am

  Reports coming out of Libya's third largest city suggest that Misurata is now in the hands of opposition supporters.

  If true, it would mean the anti-government movement is spreading closer to the capital Tripoli, and there are reports that protesters are trying to convince government soldiers to switch sides.

• Timestamp: 

  11:28am

   

  Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley, reporting from the eastern city of Benghazi, says people in the city "realise that at the end of the day, they are going to be responsible for the liberation of their entire country and they are taking steps to do that".

  "There was a big meeting of the former justice minister who is leading this process and the tribal elders," he said.

  "If anything signals the downfall of Gaddafi it's the fact that these tribes are coming together and they're showing unity and solidarity."

   

• Timestamp: 

  10:11am

  Kevin Rudd, Australia's foreign minister and former prime minister, tells Al Jazeera:

  "Libya is in the middle of a civil war and that civil war has now reached the streets of Tripoli. It seems to us increasingly that the days of this regime are numbered."

  Australia has put pressure on Gaddafi and imposed what it calls autonomous sanctions. Rudd said the security situation on the ground is working against the Libyan government. "The key thing is to see the unity of international opinion on this matter so that those within Libya know that the world is as one. There is one critical element of the UN Security Council resolution, which we in Australia have strongly argued for, for the last week, and that is a reference to the International Criminal Court.

• 
  

  This is critical for the regime in Tripoli to understand. That is, if they take further actions of violence against innocent civilians in Libya, it is not just those who issue orders, but those who pull the trigger who will then become subject to the jurisdiction of the criminal court." 

  We'll post the video clip of his interview shortly.

• Timestamp: 

  9:45am

   

  The Libyan leader's palace outside al-Baida is not just luxurious, but a bunker designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland took a glimpse:
  
   
• Timestamp: 

  9:14am

  Twitter user @paltex just sent us this picture of another US solidarity rally for Libya - this time in the city of Dallas, Texas:

  

• Timestamp: 

  8:36am

  Take a peek into Libya's revolution headquarters. Benghazi, the de facto capital of the opposition, is where much of the anti-Gaddafi action is co-ordinated and executed.

  Al Jazeera web producer Evan Hill sent in this report.

• Timestamp: 

  7:45am

  Residents of the US city of Chicago held a Libyan solidarity rally on Saturday. This picture was posted on Twitter by @HindMakki who tweeted:

  "500 protesters for #libya in #chicago cars on michigan ave honking in solidarity"

  

• Timestamp: 

  6:30am

  In this audio note, posted on Twitter by @Feb17voices with an English translation, a Tripoli man describes a "tumultuous" situation in the Libyan capital.

  "Out of 100 stores, maybe four are open. Out of 100. Even the ones that are open are not at ease. Even the food supplies are beginning to dwindle."

• Timestamp: 

  6:15am

  Hana Elgallal, a legal and human rights expert in Benghazi, said some in Libya will be disappointed that the UN did not impose a no-fly zone. "I'm one person who was hoping that we'd get that," she told Al Jazeera.

  We will not be able to move and help Tripoli because of the fear that he will use his planes. But whatever we get now we will look at it positively and consider it a victory and success.

  "Hopefully things will escalate in our benefit soon to defuse the massacres in Tripoli."

• Timestamp: 

  4:48am

  Libyan poet Prof Khaled Mattawa of the University of Michigan tells Al Jazeera that Libya's "cultural revolution" represents the end of tolerance to Colonel Gaddafi.

  "It's game over after a long, patient struggle," he says. "This is a great cleansing coming over the Libyan people"

• Timestamp: 

  4:24am

  Libyan ambassador Ibrahim Dabasshi says the diplomatic mission at the UN is not taking orders from Tripoli. 

  "I am not brave," he says. "The brave are those who face the bullets in the streets of Libya. I am just hoping to make the international community aware of what is happening."

• Timestamp: 

  4:21am

  Graffiti spotted by our correspondent in Benghazi:

  

• Timestamp: 

  4:17am

  Libyan ambassador, Ibrahim Dabasshi: "It is difficult to tell how many [are dead] in Tripoli - because when someone is killed, they come and take the body - also when they are injured." Says the UNSC resolution will send a warning to senior regime figures and encourage them to abandon Gaddafi.

• Timestamp: 

  4:15am

  Libyan ambassador to the UN: "I am a career diplomat ... I am not nominated by Gaddafi [to speak]. My colleagues and I are siding with the people." 

• Timestamp: 

  4:13am

  Libyan ambassador to UN: "We expect the people with the regime take a position and side with the Libyan people." 

• Timestamp: 

  4:11am

  Ban Ki-moon: "In the following days, even more bold action may become necessary." 

• Timestamp: 

  4:06am

  The UNSC resolution also includes a ban on selling weapons to the Libyan regime, Al Jazeera's Kristen Saloomey notes 

• Timestamp: 

  4:04am

  Those slapped with a travel ban: Liaison office head Dr Abdulqader Mohammed al-Baghdadi, Gaddafi's bodyguard chief Abdulqader Yusef Dibri, extrenal intelligence agency boss Abu Zayd Umar Dorda, defence minister Major General Abu Bakr Yunis Jabir,  Utilities secretary Matuq Mohammed Matuq, alleged hit squad chief Sayyid Mohammed Qadhaf Al-dam, Gaddafi's daughter Aisha, sons Hannibal Muammar, Khamis Muammar, Mohammed Muammar, Mutassim, Saadi, Saif al-Arab and Saif al-Islam. Also military intelligence director Col Abdullah al-Senussi - and Gaddafi himself.

• Timestamp: 

  3:55am

  Here's a photo of that vote...

   

• Timestamp: 

  3:17am

  US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice: "When atrocities are committed against innocents, the international community must act with one voice - and tonight it has."

• Timestamp: 

  3:11am

  All 15 members vote for SC resolution 1970, a unanimous decision.

  Gaddafi family members will have their assets frozen, and which administration members will be prevented from leaving Libya. 

  Asset freeze: Aisha, Hannibal, Khamis Muammar, Muammar Mohammed Abu Minyar, Mutassim and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.

  Travel ban: Liaison office head Dr Abdulqader Mohammed al-Baghdadi, Gaddafi's bodyguard chief Abdulqader Yusef Dibri, extrenal intelligence agency boss Abu Zayd Umar Dorda, defence minister Major General Abu Bakr Yunis Jabir,  Utilities secretary Matuq Mohammed Matuq, alleged hit squad chief Sayyid Mohammed Qadhaf Al-dam, Gaddafi's daughter Aisha, sons Hannibal Muammar, Khamis Muammar, Mohammed Muammar, Mutassim, Saadi, Saif al-Arab and Saif al-Islam. Also military intelligence director Col Abdullah al-Senussi - and Gaddafi himself.

• Timestamp: 

  3:05am

  All 15 UN Security Council members are reportedly "on board" to pass a resolution referring Libyan officials to the International Criminal Court, says Kristen Saloomey, Al Jazeera's correspondent at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

  It is the first time the council has referred a country's leadership to the ICC, she says. Vote expected very soon - we're watching the diplomats settling into their chairs now. 

• Timestamp: 

  2:38am

  Al Jazeera understands the UN Security Council resolution will freeze the assets of six members of the Gaddafi family, including the Libyan leader - while 16 members of his administration will be slapped with a travel ban. Waiting on news of the vote... But you can watch all the details as they unfold on our TV stream - live - by clicking here: Watch Al Jazeera now.

• Timestamp: 

  2:18pm

  As many as 50 civilians and many more severely wounded in an attack by Gaddafi loyalists in the oil refining town of Zawiyah, 50km west of Tripoli, a resident named Ibrahim told Reuters.

   

• Timestamp: 

  1:33am

  An Al Jazeera correspondent who has made it to Benghazi tells us the city's court house has become "press/uprising central", with a media centre, printing press, newspaper, medical clinics and satellite internet.

  

  

• Timestamp: 

  1:25am

  Henry Schuler, former US diplomat, tells Al Jazeera that the Obama administration "inherited a terrible situation created by the Bush administration in letting Gaddafi off the hook in 2004".

  "Time will tell whether that was accomplished based on a clear assessment of US interests, or to get the oil companies back into Libya, or to promote the re-election campaign of George W Bush.

  "It's a fool's errand if anyone thinks sanctions will persuade Gaddafi to back off. He said he will shed his last drop of blood on Libyan soil. What the US should be doing is ensuring that as little as possible other Libyan blood is shed." 

• Timestamp: 

  1:00am

  The World Food Programme says the food supply chain in Libya "is at risk of collapsing". The Red Cross has also launched an appeal for more than US$6million for medical assistance.

• Timestamp: 

  12:42am

  The Libyan ambassador to the US has announced his support for the interim government formed in Benghazi, Reuters reports.

• Timestamp: 

  12:11am

  We're hearing that the UN Security Council is due to vote on a draft resolution - including an arms embargo on Libya, as well as a travel ban and "asset freeze" of  "targeted individuals" - at around 1:00am GMT, that's in about three hours.

  The draft also authorises UN members to "take all measures to enable the return of humanitarian assistance to Libya".

• Timestamp: 

  12:02am

  We have received this statement from a group named "The Network of Free Ulema - Libya", which purports to be a collection of Muslim religious scholars and intellectuals, calling for humanitarian aid - but rejecting international military action.

  

• Timestamp: 

  12:00am

  Missed our liveblog from yesterday?  Catch up by clicking here.