BENGHAZI, Libya // Shops and schools closed across Benghazi on Tuesday as residents of Libya’s second city responded to calls for civil disobedience to protest clashes between radical Islamists and the army.
The call by the city council came as defence ministry officials were in talks with Ansar Al Sharia on an offer of safe passage out of the city on condition its fighters leave their weapons behind.
The army clashed with the hardline militia on Monday after one of its patrols was attacked near the headquarters of Ansar Al Sharia, a group blamed for killing the US ambassador last year during an attack on the US consulate. At least nine people were killed.
The army was deployed across the city yesterday, setting up checkpoints on key roads.
Troops were also in control of the Ansar Al Sharia headquarters in Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi, which residents had attacked late on Monday, forcing the militants to flee, before handing it over to the army.
Benghazi was the cradle of the 2011 uprising during which Nato-backed rebels toppled and then killed the longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi.
Since the end of the uprising, Libya has been hit by waves of violence much of it blamed on former rebels who have banded into militias each with its own ideology and allegiance.
Fed up by the government’s inability to rein in the militias, the city council called on residents to show their frustration through three days of “civil disobedience”, including strikes.
The move brought Benghazi to a near standstill with schools, universities, shops, banks and public offices all closed, as residents mourned the dead.
* Agence France-Presse
