As fresh violence grips Libya - there are claims that some of those cracking down on demonstrators are foreign mercenaries. 18 February According to BBC News, "violent confrontations" between demonstrators and security forces spread to five Libyan cities "so far, but not yet to the capital Tripoli, in any large numbers." Benghazi: Thousands of anti-government protester gathered in front of the Benghazi courthouse. According to BBC News, a "doctor at Benghazi's Jalla hospital" told them that he had "seen 15 bodies - all dead from gunshot wounds" - by the time he left the hospital "in the early hours of Friday." Police and army personnel reportedly withdrew from the city after being overwhelmed by protesters. Protesters took control of the local radio station. Some army personnel joined the protesters, and by the early hours of 19 February, protesters had taken control of the airport. Al Bayda: Unconfirmed reports indicated that the local police force and riot control units joined with the protesters. Unconfirmed eyewitness reports indicate that two officers who were accused of shooting protesters were hanged by protesters. The Libyan Oea newspaper, which allied to Col. Kadhafi's reputedly pro-reform son Seif al-Islam, said the two policemen had been lynched by a demonstrators' angry lynch mob on the 18th in the city of Al Bayda. The government of Libya initially began mediajihad by greatly restricting access to the Internet in the country for several hours, but later...

Libya, Libia, Libyan, Benghazi, Tripoli, Protests, Street, Demonstrations, Gaddafi, Qadafi, Uprising, Revolution, Mobilize, Police, Brutality, Unemployment, Raise, Minimum, Wage, Housing, Food, Inflation, Corruption, Freedom, Of, Speech, Living, Conditions, Civil, Unrest, Government, Death, Self-immolation, Human, Rights, Tear, Gas, Activists, February, 17, 2011