Terror quiets libyan capital as rebels battle in the east

Terror Quiets Libyan Capital as Rebels Battle in the East

TRIPOLI, Libya — A state of terror has seized two working-class neighborhoods here that just a week ago exploded in revolt, with residentsreporting constant surveillance, searches of cars and even cellphones by militiamen with Kalashnikovs at block-by-block checkpoints and a rash of disappearances of those involved in last week’sprotest.
As rebel fighters in the country’s east celebrated their defeat of a raid on Wednesday by hundreds of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s loyalists in the strategic oil town of Brega, many people inTripoli said they had lost hope that peaceful protests might push the Libyan leader from power the way street demonstrations had toppled the strongmen in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.
The climate offear suggests just how effectively the government’s ruthless application of force in Tripoli has locked down the city and suppressed simmering rage, even as the rebels have held control of the easternhalf of the country and a string of smaller western cities surrounding the capital.
“I think the people know that if they make any protest now they will be killed, so all the people in Tripoli arewaiting for someone to help them,” one resident said. “It is easy to kill anybody here. I have seen it with my own eyes.”
Several people in the two neighborhoods, Feshloom and Tajura, speaking on thecondition of anonymity for fear of Colonel Qaddafi’s secret police, said militias loyal to the colonel were using photos taken at last week’s protest to track down the men involved. “They know thatthere are people who have energy and who are willing to die, so they pick them up,” another resident said.
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COMENTARIO: La opresión que seha venido generando ha creado entre la gente el terror de salir de sus casas y hasta de expresar lo que es un derecho que son sus opinión acerca de la forma de gobernar por desgracia como siempre...