Gadhafi stays put, unrest spreads
Libyans fleeing across the country’s western border to Tunisia reported fighting over the past two nights in the town of Sabratha, home of an important Roman archeological site 50 miles west of Tripoli. “Reuters” reported that thousands of Libyan forces loyal to Gadhafi had been deployed there.
“The revolutionary committees are trying to kill everyone who is against Gadhafi,” said a doctor from Sabratha who had just left the country, but who declined to give his name because he wanted to return.
There were also reports of fighting in Misurata, a provincial centre 130 miles west of the capital. A witness said that messages being broadcast from the loudspeakers of local mosques were urging people to attack the government’s opponents, following the dictator’s call in a defiant television address on Tuesday night for ordinary citizens to assist in eliminating opponents of his regime.