Cut off from any modicum of civilized conduct, Gaddafi's regime murder hundreds

The people of Libya today must be praying for the relative moderation and passivity of the Mubarak and Ben-Ali regimes.

Human Rights Watch on Friday recordered an estimated 84 deaths inflicted by the Libyan security services.

The Associated Press, today have come out with claims of much higher death tolls, possibly reaching 300:

CAIRO (AP) — A doctor in the Libyan city of Benghazi says his hospital has seen the bodies of at least 200 protesters killed by Moammar Gadhafi's forces over the last few days. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears reprisal.

Witnesses told The Associated Press a mixture of special commandos, foreign mercenaries and Gadhafi loyalists went after demonstrators on Saturday with knives, assault rifles and heavy-caliber weapons. That followed days of protests in Benghazi, a focal point of the uprising aimed at toppling Gadhafi after more than 40 years of rule.

CAIRO (AP) — Libyan protesters defied a fierce crackdown by Moammar Gadhafi's regime, returning Sunday to a square outside a court building in the flashpoint city of Benghazi to demand the overthrow of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

Witnesses told The Associated Press hundreds of demonstrators gathered early Sunday morning at the court building after a day of bloodshed, during which Libyan forces opened fire on mourners leaving a funeral for protesters.

In the hours after that attack, a medical official said at least 15 people were killed.

But Mohammed Abdullah, a Dubai-based member of the Libyan Salvation Front, said Sunday that the toll could be much higher. He quoted hospital officials in Benghazi saying the death toll might have reached 300. Witness accounts said a mixture of special commandos, foreign mercenaries and Gadhafi loyalists armed with knives, Kalashnikovs and even anti-aircraft missiles went after the demonstrators.

AP in a later report from today repeat the death toll as being over 200, and recount stories of unarmed, un-threatening Libyans, peacefully marching being opened up on with live fire and even machine guns:

Libyan security forces opened fire on mourners at a funeral for anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi again Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry as well as knives. A doctor at one city hospital said he counted 200 dead in his morgue alone since unrest began six days ago.

The latest violence in the flashpoint city of Benghazi followed the same pattern as the crackdown on Saturday, when witnesses said forces loyal to Gadhafi attacked mourners at a funeral for anti-government protesters. The doctor at a Benghazi hospital said at least one person was killed by gunshots during the funeral march, and 14 were injured, including five in serious condition. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

A man shot in the leg Sunday said marchers were carrying coffins to a cemetery when they passed a military compound in Libya's second-largest city. The man said security forces fired in the air and then opened up on the crowd.

There is something of a media blackout in Libya at the moment. The internet has been shut down in this country which has always been one of the most heavily censored regimes in the Arab world. We will almost certainly not be seeing from Libya the amazing footage broadcast live by Al Jazeera in Cairo from weeks past. A number of videos from the protestors are making it out of Libya and onto the internet though. They are a testament to the sheer brutality of the Gaddafi regime and the tactics of his hired thugs and mercenaries.

Al Jazeera: Violent clashes hit Libyan city of Baida:

Protester shot by Libyan security services (very graphic):

Al Bayda (2/18) - Protester shot in the head by Khamis Al-Gaddafi's battalion (extremely graphic):

The levels of violence in Egypt didn't catastrophically spiral out of control for a number of reasons:

- The restraint of the army.
- US involvment in the country and aid to the regime meant that Mubarak could not brutually crush the protestors the way Gaddafi is trying to, for fear of alienating his strong ally.
- The openness of Egypt and its meda (relative to Libya of course), which Mubarak could never shut down, although he tried many times by unleashing his plain-clothes thugs. In a country much less isolated than Libya, like Egypt, it is impossible to simply mow down protestors in large numbers with live fire because the regime is much more susceptible to international opprobrium and sanction.
- The focus of the world's attention having always been much more on Egypt than Libya. Libya has never had the stature, presence and importance that Egypt does on the world stage, therefore it can get away with a lot more with the world not paying full attention.

It was for these reasons that Egypt could topple the regime without a huge amount of blooshed. Mubarak, I think, realized, that if he employed a huge amount of force against the protesters, it would sound his death knell, as his vital allies would be forced to desert him and could pressure him much more. Gaddafi's Libya has always been much more isolated, cut-off and autarkic than Egypt, therefore being internationally ostracized and pressured is nothing new for it, and it can cope very well with it, whereas Egypt has not experienced that and would have been much less prepared to cope with it. It is for these reasons that I fear the Libyan protesters could be in for a much, much rougher time of it than the Egyptians had (without wishing to denigrate the struggle of the Egyptian people, and those who died).

The Guardian is reporting that the pro-government paper, Al-Zahf al-Akhdar:

warned that the government would "violently and thunderously respond" to the protests, and said those opposing the regime risked "suicide".

I fear that this is a promise the regime is more than determined to keep.