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Protestors serving the devil, says Gaddafi

Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has refused to stand down amid widespread anti-government protests which he said had tarnished the image of the country.

In his first major speech since unrest began last week, Colonel Gaddafi said the whole world looked up to Libya and that protests were "serving the devil".

Reading from the country's constitution, he said enemies of Libya would be executed.

Rights groups say nearly 300 have been killed in the violence so far.

A defiant and angry Colonel Gaddafi said he had brought glory to Libya and as he had no official position from which to resign, he would remain the head of the revolution.

He blamed the unrest on "cowards and traitors" who were seeking to portray Libya as a place of chaos and to "humiliate" Libyans.

At other points he referred to the protesters as cockroaches or rats and mercenaries.

State TV had said Colonel Gaddafi was going to announce “major reforms” in his speech, but the only such reference was to some devolution of power to local authorities.

Civil war threat

According to the embattled leader, who frequently shouted and banged his fist on the table as his address continued, the protesters had been given drink and drugs.

He called for "those who love Muammar Gaddafi" to come on to the streets in support of him, telling them not to be afraid of the "gangs".

"Come out of your homes, attack them in their dens. Withdraw your children from the streets. They are drugging your children, they are making your children drunk and sending them to hell," he said.

He urged young people to form committees "for the defence of the revolution and the defence of Gaddafi".

He said they would "cleanse Libya house by house".

"If matters require, we will use force, according to international law and the Libyan constitution," he said, and warned that the country could descend into civil war or be occupied by the US if protests continued.

US & Britain accused of trying to destabilise Libya

Anyone who played games with the country's unity would be executed, he said, referring to the Chinese authorities' crushing of the student protests in Tiananmen Square among other historical events.

He also railed against western countries, in particular the United States and Britain, which he accused of trying to destabilise Libya.

It was unclear whether the speech, which lasted about an hour, was live or had been pre-recorded.

But it was apparently filmed at his Bab al-Azizia barracks in Tripoli, which still shows damage from a US bombing in 1986.

The cameras occasionally cut away to an image of a giant fist crushing a US war plane.

 

 



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