Global Voices reports:
Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi has been ruling Libya for more than four decades. According to Wikipedia, he is the longest serving of all current non-royal national leaders in the world. Hoping to emulate recent popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, Libyan pro-democracy activists have been calling for protests against the 41-year-old autocratic rule of Gaddafi. They set February 17 as a “Day of Rage”, using social networking websites to convince millions to take to the streets and peacefully call for change. But it seems that Libyans are too eager to voice their rage and anger at their leader as many decided to demonstrate today.
In the city of Benghazi, the second largest city in Libya, protesters gathered in front of police headquarters and chanted slogans against the “corrupt rulers of the country.” The response of the authorities was reportedly heavy handed.
This video, posted on YouTube by enoughgaddafi is from Benghazi:
Another video from the same demonstration in Benghazi by enoughgaddafi:
One of the countless benefits of an end to Gaddafi’s rule– for Libya and the world– would be the likely demise of Gaddafi International Human Rights Prize.
Previous winners of this coveted award include Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam in America (1996); Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (1998); Roger Garaudy (among 12 other “intellectual and literature personalities”), the French ex-Communist, Muslim convert and Holocaust denier (2002); and Venezuela’s caudillo Hugo Chavez (2004).